Hope & Anchor Front Row Festival

March 6th, 2012

Hope & Anchor is a pub in the Islington borough of London. In 1977, they held a series of concerts dubbed The Front Row Festival. Performances from those concerts were then culled to create a 2LP concert album that was a record for the ages. It’s a crazy album with a wildly diverse set of artists, a line-up that shows a bygone era where an amazing assortment of diverse bands and genres co-existed in an open and free environment.

Not only are a wide arrange of punk and new wave artists featured on the album, but a good majority of the record is devoted to pub rock, an entire genre that most people today probably know next to nothing about.

Pub rock was a very short-lived genre that thrived in the London pub scene (duh) from about 1971 to 1975. It was basically roots rock music, stripped down old style rock and roll that had more in common with rockabilly and rhythm and blues than anything that was popular at the time. In fact, pub rock was a reactionary movement against popular music of the time, especially glam rock and prog rock. Pub rock acts were against bombast and overly complex songs. They wanted to take rock music back to its roots, so much so that many of them wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1950s opening for Bill Haley or Buddy Holly.

But it wouldn’t last long. While taking a nostalgia trip to a bygone era is fun for a while, the scene quickly moved on, appropriating the bare-bones and simplistic style of pub rock while forgoing it’s retro flavor, resulting in the birth of  punk.

However, for an all-too-brief moment, both scenes existed side-by-side, and we thankfully have this album to document the exciting and influential bands that were a part of it.

And Dire Straits.

Wilko Johnson Band
Dr. Feelgood
Twenty Yards Behind
Wilko Johnson has been in a few different bands. For most of the 70s he was in a pub rock act called Dr. Feelgood. Apparently when he left the group in the later half of the decade he took this cover of the 1960s blue song from which the band got their name with him.

The Wilko Johnson Band appears to have been a one-off, this is their only credited appearance from what I can tell. But everyone in the band (Norman Watt-Roy and Steve Monti, along with Johnson) were also in another band called Solid Senders, who released their sole album in in 1978. After that band ended, Johnson joined Ian Dury’s Blockheads.

Both “Dr. Feelgood” and “Twenty Yards Behind” are classic UK pub rock, no punk attitude to be found.  Still, you can hear how it probably served as an influence to the kids who would form punk bands, with its simple chord progressions and fast tempo, but you can also imagine that most probably hated it at the same time since it was pretty tame.

The Stranglers
Straighten Out
Hanging Around
I don’t think I need to say much about The Stranglers, they’re one of the biggest and best bands on this compilation. If you don’t own any Stranglers albums, then shame on you. Go buy some. I’ll wait here till you get back.

See? The Stranglers kick ass. Let’s move on.

Tyla Gang
Styrofoam
On The Street
The Tyla Gang were the brainchild of Sean Tyla, who was the guitarist for the awesomely named Ducks Deluxe, another popular British pub rock band of the mid-70s.  As The Tyla Gang, he seemed to continue the pub rock tradition of Ducks Deluxe, cranking out fast-paced, blues-influenced rock-n-roll. It’s not surprising that he went on to work with Joan Jett for a bit after the Tyla Gang called it quits.

These tracks a pretty solid, although the wannabe blues sound of “Styrofoam” is a bit corny.

The Pirates
Dont Munchen It
Gibson Martin Fender
The Pirates featured on this album are Mick Green, Johnny Spence and Frank Farley. They served as the backing band for the second incarnation of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, who released their first single back in 1959. They were with Johnny Kidd until 1966, when he died in a car accident. This recording was apparently their “comeback” gig, and their first major appearance since Kidd’s death.

Strangely enough, The Pirates are one of the most “punk” sounding pub rock bands on this album, going for the raw style of R&B reminiscent of early Who and Sonics songs. “Gibson Martin Fender” has an oldies feel for sure, but all that separates “Don’t Munchen It” from a Sex Pistols track are competent musicianship of the band members and quality vocals.

Steve Gibbons Band
Speed Kills
Johnny Cool
Another 60s survivor, Steve Gibbons was a member of the horribly-named group The Uglys, and the even more horribly-named group Balls. His upbringing in the 1960s scene shows with these two songs, which are some of the most “roots rock” sounding cuts on the record.

The Pleasers
Billy
Rock & Roll Radio
These guys are interesting, at least from a musical standpoint, as they sound a bit like everything. They have the guitar solos and beats of 50/60s rock, the bluesy, garage rock feel of early-70s pub rock, and the non-stop energy and enthusiasm of punk/new wave music. I’m surprised they didn’t end up on Stiff Records. They ended up releasing quite a few 7″ singles, but they never put out a proper record. It’s too bad, this pair of songs sure sounds great.

XTC
I’m Bugged
Science Friction
I’m willing to bet that XTC were the only band on this line-up who would site Can and Neu! as inspirations. XTC are legends, I have nothing of value to add to any discussion about them. Both these songs are great, and if you haven’t already, listen to more XTC, they were incredible. Buy Oranges & Lemons, that album is a masterpiece.

Suburban Studs
I Hate School
Not all 1970s UK punk was political or topical, unless you consider the timeless subject of not wanting to go to school to be one of political importance. The Suburban Studs were one of the very first punk rock bands, with their first single coming out in 1977, but they fell through the cracks and have since been forgotten. That’s probably because they weren’t very good when compared to the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Buzzcocks.

But hey, do you hate school? If so, then you can totally identify with this track.

Dire Straits
Eastbound Train
They may be the biggest band on this record (probably by about 100 million records or so), but when this performance was recorded in 1977, the band didn’t have an album to their name, let alone a single. Even though, this sounds like Dire Straits, laid-back and bluesy, with Knopfler’s trademark guitar and vocal styles noticeable from a mile away.

As far as I know, a studio recording of this song has never been released, and the only official releases of it have been on live albums. It’s a good track, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb compared to everything else here.

Burlesque
Bizz Fizz
Another pub rock group that died out with the birth of punk. I know very little about these guys. They released two albums (one studio and one live) but neither came out in the states and neither have been reprinted on CD. I can’t even find them on YouTube. Based on “Bizz Fizz” I can pick up a slight jazz edge to them, but they also have that punkish energy that so many great pub rock bands had. Anyone know if their albums are worth tracking down?

X-Ray-Spex
Let’s Submerge
I really need to get me some more X-Ray Spex. I think they the only first generation punk rock act to have a female lead singer (who had the fucking amazing stage name Poly Styrene), and I’m willing to bet they’re one of the only punk rock acts ever to rock a  sax player (for better or worse). This song kicks ass, although it’s no “Oh Bondage! Up Yours!”

999
Crazy
Quite Disappointing
999 songs can be broken up into two categories. The first is “Homicide” and the second is “everything that’s not Homicide.” That second category has some stand out tunes, like these two upbeat punk numbers, but nothing in it can compare to the singular song in the first category. Another great early UK punk group for those of you who may not know, their first three or four albums are well worth checking out.

The Saints
Demolition Girl
Aussie punk! I don’t know how these guys ended up in England to record a track for this album, but the record is sure better for it. This song kicks ass.

The Only Ones
Creatures of Doom
I’ll be honest, I knew nothing of The Only Ones before listening to this album, although when I started doing my research I found that I had heard their classic “Another Girl, Another Planet” before. They kind of remind me of the Buzzcocks, definite good company to have. They have a pretty big cult following, and after listening to more of the music, it’s easy to hear why.

Steel Pulse
Sound Check
Steel Pulse was a reggae band. They’re in Urgh! I still don’t like reggae, (sorry) so let’s move on.

Roogalator
Zero Hero
Roogalator was a funk band, at least according to their profile at Discogs, but “Zero Hero” is pretty damn punk. I love it. I also love saying “Roogalator” over and over again so much that my roommates must be wondering if I’m chanting to myself. 

Philip Rambow
Underground Romance
Philip Rambow is proof that life is weird.

In the early 70s he was in a band called The Winkies, who were pub rock in sound but glam in appearance. This appealed to Brian Eno, and he called on The Winkies to serve as his backing band for one of his tours. But Eno suffered a collapsed lung just a few shows in, and the entire tour had to be scraped.

But it wasn’t all bad news for the The Winkies. The bit of exposure did get them a major label deal, and in 1975 they put out their self-titled debut. However, the album was a bomb, so the group broke up. Rambow released a couple of solo LPs (one as The Phil Rambow Band and the other just as Philip Rambow), but they were bombs as well.

They got him noticed by someone though, because he got some songwriting work, most notably serving as a co-writer to Kristy MacColl’s classic “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears he’s Elvis.” He also played guitar on Peter Murphy’s solo debut Should The World Fall Apart.

Pub rocker to glam rocker to pop songwriter to session guitarist for a goth icon. How’s that for a career trajectory?

 

Enjoy the record. If you want to learn more about pub rock, I recommended Jason Heller’s excellent piece at the A.V. Club. It covers the genres high (and low) points quite nicely.

 

Posted in 999, Burlesque, Complete Albums, Dire Straits, live, Philip Rambow, Roogalator, Steel Pulse, Steve Gibbons Band, Suburban Studs, The Only Ones, The Pirates, The Pleasers, The Saints, The Stranglers, Tyla Gang, Wilko Johnson Band, X-Ray Spex, XTC | 4 Comments »

Don’t You Know I’m Loco?

March 1st, 2012

Next week I will have at least one super-awesome post! And the week after that I promise to have my damn guide to ripping vinyl complete!

Right now I promise to offer some classic hip-hop with minimal editorial comment.

Cypress Hill
Insane In The Brain (Extended Version)
When The Shit Goes Down (Extended Version)
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to interview B Real for a story on something I’d rather not mention here. It was a phone interview. Like many phone interviews, I am not given the actual artist’s number. Instead I am given a number to a PR rep, who then transfers me to the artist in question.

When I called in for this interview, the PR rep said to me “do you mind holding for a few minutes? B Real is just wrapping something up.”

It took every fiber in my being not to immediately ask “Is it a joint?”

Because the dudes in Cypress Hill kind of like weed. In case you didn’t know.

Anyways, B Real is a cool dude, real chill…and I think he was high.

Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde
Genius Rap
Genius Of Love (Instrumental)
I love the absolute brazen nature of old school rap when it came to samples. Today a rap group can’t sample a note from a pop tune without getting sued to oblivion, but back in “the day” when no one knew what the hell they were doing, rappers would take the instrumental of a song and just rap over it. Prime example is this cut from Golden Age rappers Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde. In case you can’t tell from the track title, “Genius Rap” is barely nothing more than the duo rapping over a modified instrumental track of Tom Tom Club’s “Genius Of Love.” Imagine if someone tried that today. If Kanye grabbed the backing track to “Rolling In the Deep,” cut a rap track over it and released it as “Rappin’ In The Deep.” Sure, there are mixtapes, and rappers use less-than-legal samples for those, but there’s something to be said for the day when rappers could just steal shit and get away with it. Fucking copyrights.

Also, I love the cover to Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde’s lone album.

Too bad the “Wall Street accountant” look never caught on in hip-hop.

Posted in Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde, remixes | 1 Comment »

Sub-par 80s Music (and a decent track from the 90s) for your listening pleasure

February 28th, 2012

I think I only really like one of the songs in tonight’s post. But what can I say? I’m a man of the people. And I’m certain that some people out there really want songs, so I’m happy to oblige.

Are there any people out there who want to oblige me?

…wait, that sounded dirty. Let me start over.

I’m working on a few articles at the moment, and I’m looking for some people to interview.

Do you like video games? Do you like vinyl? Do you like video game soundtracks on vinyl? Have you bought a video game soundtrack on vinyl. If you can answer yes to that last question (and probably the first three as well) then I would love to speak to you. My email address is in the sidebar. Hit me up.

Did you say no to all those questions? Okay, then do you like Joyful Noise Records? They’re an indie label that specializes in vinyl and cassette tape releases. Have you bought any of their super-crazy limited edition releases? If so, I’d love to hear from you. Email. Sidebar. Do it. You know you wanna.

If you answered no to all of those questions, it’s okay, you can still download these songs.

A Flock of Seagulls
Who’s that Girl (She’s Got It) (Extended Version)
Who’s that Girl (She’s Got It) (7″ Version)
Who’s that Girl (She’s Got It) (Instrumental Version)
I came into this post determined not to make a joke about Flock of Seagulls haircuts. But then I realized that’s all I really know about the group. Then I realized that I had no jokes about it, aside from a pun that described the haircuts as “Locks of Seagulls,” but I’m better than that…at least I think I am.

As Flock of Seagulls singles go, this is pretty minor. It’s from their latter years (1985) and certainly lacks the futuristic, crazy out-there sound of “I Ran” and “Space Age Love Song.” It sounds like a generic new wave song from the late-80s, so at least you can say they were ahead of their time in delivering that.

Heaven 17
Heaven 17 Megamix
This is a mix that combines approximately 80 billion Heaven 17 songs, including “Crushed by the Wheels of Industry” and…other Heaven 17 songs. I’ve officially given up on trying to like Heaven 17. Sorry. But hey, if you do, you’ll probably dig this. It’s like Heaven 17 concentrate! It’s the Colombian cocaine of Heaven 17 songs, pure and uncut. I would say its safer than uncut cocaine, but I don’t want to make that claim since there probably haven’t been studies showing the long-term damage that can result from extended use of Heaven 17 megamixes.

Fluke
Reeferendum
This is the b-side to “Absurd.” I think it was inspired by weed. Just a guess. I know it kind of shits on the 80s theme I had going, but like I said before, I wanted to put up at least one song in tonight’s post that I actually liked.

Posted in B-sides, Flock Of Seagulls, Fluke, Heaven 17, remixes | 1 Comment »

Everything, Everything, Everything, Everything, Everything, Everything, Everything

February 22nd, 2012

This site has not turned into an Underworld fan page, it’s just what I had easily available at the moment. I’m sick, tired and it’s been a long week. When I do get the energy to clean/play/record my recent finds I can assure you that I will have some amazing stuff that’s not dance music.

But there will also be a lot of dance music. So you might want to get used to that.

Underworld
Dirty Epic (Dirty Guitar Mix)
Dirty Epic (Dirty Mix)
Cowgirl (Irish Pub In Kyoto Mix)
Cowgirl (Winjer Mix)
If I was a world famous remixing person, I would make a remix of “Cowgirl” called “The Everything (Everything) Mix.” It would just sample the beginning vocal of the track (where he says “everything, everything”) and build up everything else around that, with the vocal loop never ending. A remix should take the best bit of a song and push it to the front. Fuck the rest.

That being said, these remixes of both “Dirty Epic” and “Cowgirl” are still great even though they don’t do that. Maybe there’s a flaw in my idea. Nah, fuck that. I’m flawless.

Nobukazu Takemura
Mimic Robot (12″ Single Mix)
Cons (Plant Mix)
Resign Part 2
Lost Treasures (2nd Single Mix)
 If and when I ever finish The Lost Turntable Guide to Recording Vinyl, I will have a chapter on vinyl restoration software. Some of that stuff is great, and can really go a long way to restoring even the most battered of recordings. That being said, if an artist incorporates clicks, pops and hisses into their recording, then don’t even bother using it. It will obviously remove those as well.

Which is a really long-winded way for me to explain why these tracks by Nobukazu Takemura haven’t been restored and have a few (unintended) clicks and pops in them.

They don’t have any skips though. If you think they do then you obviously haven’t heard enough experimental electronic music. It’s supposed to sound like that.

If you have never heard of Nobukazu Takemura before, you’re in for a treat. I like to describe his electronic stuff as music a seven-year-old would make if they new how to work a synthesizer, vocoder and sampler. It’s wonderfully kooky and cute.

Posted in B-sides, Nobukazu Takemura, remixes, Underworld | 2 Comments »

A Crapton of Electronic Music (Too Tired to be Witty, Sorry)

February 17th, 2012

I know I promised my guide to ripping vinyl this week, but I’m sorry to say that I lied. That’s going to have to wait at least a week, if not two. Life is getting in the way, mostly in a good way, but definitely in a way that makes writing a 2,000+ how-to guide for fun kind of a low priority assignment.

Speaking of things I’ve written that are approximately 2,000 words. If you are in a bookstore and see the latest copy of Goldmine (the one with Dennis DeYoung on the cover) and you want to read something I wrote, pick it up! I did a feature on Super Deluxe Box Sets. I’m pretty proud of it. You should read it. Seriously. If you do I’ll, like, be your best friend and stuff.

Oh, and I have a new post at my other blog, Random Record Reviews, read that too. I mean, if you want.

Underworld
Dinosaur Adventure 3D (Darren Price Remix)
Dinosaur Adventure 3D (R.C.M. Version)
Dinosaur Adventure 3D (Sharpside Remix)
Dinosaur Adventure 3D (Funk D Void Vocal Remix)
Two Months Off (King Unique Sunspots – Vocal Mix)
Two Months Off (John Ciafone Vocal Remix)
“Dinosaur Adventure 3D” is a great title for a not-so-great tune, while “Two Months Off” is a bland title to one hell of a great dance track. The “Two Months Off” remixes are especially good because they still leave in the vocals, which were the best part of the song, while reworking the music that was a little bit weak on the original version.

Ladytron
Evil (Ewin Pearson Remix)
There’s a version of this remix on Amazon and iTunes, but it’s mysteriously a minute shorter than this one, which I snagged from a 12″ single. Great tune, one of Ladytron’s best. I love the line “Use you evil when you want.”

If I had any evil in me I’d probably screw it up somehow and use it to rescue puppies or something.

Sasha
Lupus (Jimmy Van M/Cass & Slide Remix)
Scorchio (Sander Kleinenberg’s Scotland Mix)
Sorry Dr. House, this time is it Lupus. And an awesome remix of the Sasha/Emerson tune “Scorchio.” These are from a weird 12″ I found called Unreleased DJ Mixes. Which if you think about it is a total bullshit title, since I’m holding it in my hand and it was obviously released. I guess Previously Unreleased DJ Mixes didn’t sound as catchy.

The Chemical Brothers
Out Of Control (Sasha Instrumental Mix)
I really wanted to put up the regular club mix of this excellent track, but you can find that one on Amazon. So I only have the Instrumental version to offer, sorry! Even without the vocals, this tune still nails it though.

Posted in Ladytron, remixes, Sasha, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld | 1 Comment »

Good Songs By Bands You’ve Never Heard Of (and a cover by Zwan)

February 13th, 2012

I was in Youngstown, Toledo and Detroit over the weekend and now I am sick. I do not believe this is a coincidence.

Endgames
Love Cares (Extended Version)
Love Cares (Single Edit)
Ready Or Not 
Endgames is on the Live Letters LP I featured a couple weeks back. On that 1981 release, they area  dissonant post-punk act with a decided Joy Division influence. In this single from 1983, they are a mainstream pop act with a decided dance bent. The Endgames of 1981 could have performed on a double-bill with Echo & The Bunnymen. The Endgames of “Love Cares” could have opened for A-Ha. Nice to see that major labels’ dulling of edgy and interesting acts isn’t a new development in any way at all. I still “Love Games” and its b-side, but damn, I would have loved to have heard an album from the Endgames that recorded “Works” and “Visions Of.”

The Hardsonic Bottoms 3
Do It Anyway You Wanna (Extended Version)
Do It Anyway You Wanna (Dub Version)
Do It Anyway You Wanna (Donald Duck Version)
Do It Anyway You Wanna (Night Dub Version) 
I have a lot of questions about this release. First of all, someone has to explain this to me:

The image on the left is the cover to the “Do It Anyway You Wanna” single, originally released in 1988. The image on the right is the cover to Franz Ferdinand’s 2005 album, You Could Have It So Much Better.  I assume they were both inspired by the same source image, but what image is that?

Now that I got that out of the way, I can talk about the song itself. What the hell is this thing? Like I said before, it was released in 1988, but it sounds like some bizarre combination of 90s big beat dance; mid-80s industrial; and late 70s disco. What the hell is it? It is a remix of another song? Who the hell are The Hardsonic Bottoms 3? What the hell do they want you to do (anyway you wanna)? Why is one version called the Donald Duck Version?

What the hell is going on here? I’m so confused! At least the song is fun, even if it can kind of drive you slowly mad with is repetitiveness.

Jigsaw
Sky High
Brand New Love Affair
I have a passion for collecting vinyl soundtracks, and for me, the soundtrack to the 1975 Ozploitation masterpiece The Man From Hong Kong is kind of a holy grail. One day I will find it, and everyone on this blog will know when that happens, because I will post the hell out of it.

So it was a nice surprise to find a 1989 12″ single to “Sky High” by Jigsaw, the theme song to the film. This dance remix of the song isn’t as good as the original version, but it’s still worth a listen. “Brand New Love Affair” is…less worth listening to.

Zwan
Number Of The Beast
Lost Turntable, your only source for Zwan B-sides in 2012. Because…someone has to? Shit I don’t know.

I actually have a lot to say about Zwan, but like Zwan itself, it doesn’t really matter. Enjoy the weird cover. I’m going to go pass out into a pile of blankets.

Posted in B-sides, Endgames, Jigsaw, remixes, The Hardsonic Bottoms 3, Zwan | 12 Comments »

Electronic Music about Clouds and Math

February 9th, 2012

Off to Ohio for the weekend. Need to fill my brain with great electronic music if I want to keep sane, or at the very least – gleefully insane.

The Orb
Aftermath (Bus Mix)
From A Distance (Hybrid Mix)
Once More… (Mark’s Slide Mix)
Little Fluffy Clouds (Danny Tenaglia’s Detour Mix)
The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Underworld turned 20 last year. Feel old, ravers?

I have a lot of 12″ singles by The Orb. Nearly all of them are torn to shit and have been played to death. While that’s a brilliant testament to the longevity and massive popularity of the group, it makes recording the 12″ singles annoying as hell. I have two 12″ singles for “Once More…” but the Mark’s Slide Mix is the only one on either that was playable.  Figures that the the remix to “Aftermath,” one of my least favorite Orb tracks, would be in near-mint condition.

But whatever, you’re really here for the “Little Fluffy Clouds” mix. Download it, it’s quite good.

BT
Fibonacci Sequence
I feel that electronic music is the only type of music that can dedicate an entire song to a mathematical pattern. On second thought, no, I’m totally sure progressive rock can do that to. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if Mars Volta one day decide to an entire album dedicated to the Golden Ratio.

I love this record. Not only because it’s a wonderfully bizarre song that works as a great into to my jogging mix, but because I snagged it off of a single-sided vinyl, which I can use to calibrate my turntable’s anti-skate. No idea what I’m talking about? You will when I drop my guide to recording vinyl next week!

Posted in BT, remixes, The Orb | 2 Comments »

One Hour and 41 Seconds of Moby Remixes

February 9th, 2012

Let’s all dance to music made by a tiny bald man.

Moby
Extreme Ways (Lee Combs Remix)
Extreme Ways (John Creamer + Stephane K Remix)
In This World (T&F Vs. Moltosugo Club Mix)
In This World (ATFC’s Southern Fried Vocal)
In My Heart (Ferry Corsten Remix)
In My Heart (Sean Tyas Misses Twilo Mix)
We Are All Made Of Stars (DJ Tiesto’s Full Vocal Remix)
We Are All Made Of Stars (Timo Maas Dub Remix)

These are all good remixes, although the mixes for “Extreme Ways” deconstruct that song so much that it becomes nearly unrecognizable. Depending on your feelings for that song, that may not necessarily be a bad thing.

What is definitely not a bad thing is the Ferry Corsten Remix of “In My Heart.” In fact, I’m just going to go pull my hyperbole lever all the way to the max and proclaim that this remix is fucking spectacular. “In My Heart” is based on a gospel sample. Gospel music, by its very definition is uplifting. You combine that with a remix by one of the international masters of uplifting trance, and you got a song that could probably get the most miserable of bastards on the dance floor and loving life for at least seven and a half minutes.

Seriously, if you’re feeling down, a good uplifting trance mix do more to alter your mood than Prozac (I should know, I’ve tried both). For example, when I was at Ultra last year I spent most of the festival hating everyone and everything. The heat was getting to me, the rude people were annoying the piss out of me, and the corrupt and evil promoters made me want to report their illegal activities to the cops. But whenever I wandered within earshot of any DJ playing a solid uplifting trance set, all my negative feelings and anger towards the countless drugged out asshats that surrounded me would melt away and be replaced with me going “OH MY GOD I JUST WANT TO DANCE TO THIS ALL DAY! OH HI! HOW ARE YOU? MY NAME IS JAMES! DON’T YOU JUST WANT TO DANCE TO THIS ALL DAY? I KNOW! IT’S SO GOOD! WHAT? NO, SORRY, I DON’T HAVE ANY COCAINE!”

I guess some people needed additional means to “uplift.”

Enjoy the mixes, I hope to get one more post in tomorrow, but if I do not, I hope you all have a wondrous weekend.

Posted in Moby, remixes | 5 Comments »

Masturbation Jokes and Blog Announcements

February 8th, 2012

The Official Lost Turntable Guide to Ripping Vinyl is coming! It might be a few weeks though, whenever I get going on it I find myself rambling for a bit before I focus. Look for it next week I hope.

But you know what you can look for right now? My new blog!

I’ve been doing this blog for about six years now (holy shit!) and while I’m going to keep doing it for as long as I can, I find its format rather limiting sometimes. Recently, I’ve become fascinated with bands so obscure that I don’t feel like they fit The Lost Turntable. Also, I’d like to have something that doesn’t host MP3s, so I can put ads on it and use it as a reference on the off chance I get another music writing gig.

So with that, I’ve started Random Record Reviews. It’s format is simple: once a week, I’ll grab a random obscure record that I’m sure no one has ever heard of and I’ll review it. My goal: to find a hidden gem that time forgot. I didn’t find it with my first post (thanks a lot Zamp) but I’m not going to stop until I do, and then I’ll probably keep going anyway.

Okay, now that I got all that out of the way, let’s listen to some electronic music. Small post tonight, I’ll have more electronic music tomorrow.

Also, get used to the electronic-themed posts for the next couple of weeks, I just bought $200 worth of 12″ singles.

BT
Smartbomb (BT Mix)
Smartbomb (Plump DJs Mix)
The Plump DJs Mix of “Smartbomb” is in my Top 10 list for best electronic songs of the early 00s. I first discovered it via SSX Tricky, and I’m ecstatic that I was able to track down an extended version on a 12″ Single. I don’t want to talk to much about it. Just download it, it’s great.

Meat Beat Manifesto
Prime Audio Soup (Vegetarian Soup by Boards of Canada)
Prime Audio Soup (Dub)
Prime Audio Soup (The Herbaliser Remix)
I can’t decide which is worse, a band named Meat Beat Manifesto or a song called “Prime Audio Soup.” Did I ever tell my joke about how I think that Meat Beat Manifesto should go on tour with the Circle Jerks? At the end of the show both bands could come onstage together and do a joint cover of “Turning Japanese.”

They could call it the Masturbatour.

Thank you! Goodnight!

Posted in BT, Meat Beat Manifesto, remixes | 2 Comments »

Happy Mondays on a Thursday makes for a great Friday

February 2nd, 2012

I’ve been thinking of putting together a guide of some sorts showing how I record vinyl, would that be something any of you might be interested in? I’m trying to figure out what to focus on. Should I talk about hardware, like what cartridge and turntable to get, or is that bit kind of played out? I feel like people with far more technical know-how than I have covered that topic to death.

What about something about how to get the most out of the vinyl you got; a guide to recording beat-up and worn down records? Would anyone care to read that? Turning a scratched, beat-up 12″ single that was in the bottom of some DJ’s crate for a decade into digital gold isn’t easy, I hope you realize that. If you’re reading this post and you are interested in what I have to say about recording vinyl, leave a comment with some suggestions as to what you’re most keen on learning about, it’ll give me a good starting point.

Just don’t ask me for insight about writing a thematically consistent blog post with similar artists. I’m really bad at that.

Madonna
Music (HQ2 Club Mix)
Music (Groove Armada 12″ Mix)
Music (Calderone Anthem Mix)
Music (Deep Dish Dot Com Remix)
Music (The Young Collective Club Remix)
Searching to see if any of these remixes were commercially available (and hence not eligible to be on this blog) was a royal pain in the ass because when you do a search for “Madonna Music remix” on iTunes or Amazon’s MP3 store I think they just eliminate “music” from the search field. I wonder how many idiots actually do searches on iTunes for “Lady Gaga Music,” as if the “music” part wasn’t implied already?

Searchword unfriendly titles notwithstanding, these are all excellent mixes to a great song. Most of them are freaking long too, those five remixes add up to nearly an hour of music. That’s a lot of “Music.”

Sorry.

Happy Mondays
Step On (Stuff In It Mix)
Step On (One Louder Mix)
Step On (U.S. Dub It In Mix)
Wrote For Luck (Radio Mix)
Wrote For Luck (Dance Mix)
Wrote For Luck (Club Mix)
I was originally going to post these on a Monday, but I thought that would be a bit too literal. Besides, no one actually has a happy Monday.

I own shockingly few Happy Mondays records, and no proper albums by them. What the hell is wrong with me? I’ve fallen in love with nearly everything I’ve ever heard from the group, although I know to avoid …Yes Please! like the Factory Records destroying clusterfuck of heroin that it is.

They just got back together didn’t they? I assume they’re not going to play the states, leaving us few Americans with decent taste out in the cold. They should do a double-headlining tour with The Stone Roses here in the states. I know neither of those bands were as huge in America as they were in the UK and the rest of the world, but I bet that team-up could even sell out arenas here. That, and ecstasy dealers would make a bloody fortune.

If you’re wondering where the “Twistin My Melon” mix is, I didn’t include it because you can buy that one on Amazon and iTunes. And if you’re wondering what “Twistin my melon” means, sorry I can’t help you there either.

Posted in Madonna, remixes | 12 Comments »

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