With A Glimmer Of Hope
Rheingold - Dreiklangsdimensionen (MP3)
Chicago - I’m A Man (Rub ‘n’ Tug Edit) (MP3)
A night so good it takes you a week to get over it? Last Thursday saw The Glimmers (née Twins) take over a dank Manchester basement to give us a taste of the music they love to eat. It was all part of San Miguel’s “Hidden Depths” tour, and The Glimmers invited hip-hop luminary GrandMaster Flash to open up his bag of tricks.
It must be said that a rather fantastic night was had by all in attendance (I especially like the picture above, the dude in the middle is quite reminisent of one of Banksy’s greats) and I seriously hope said Twins weren’t too annoyed by a “mystery blogger” chewing their ear off with tales of a long lost love of Eskimo compilations, and how many of his wasted years in retail were soundtracked by their eclectic selections. As a little tribute, I thought I’d pick two of my favourite tracks from their compilations past and present - an chuggy cosmic Rheingold number from Serie Noire Vol 2, and the Rub ‘n’ Tug edit from their DJ Kicks, previously only available on a super limited Rong 12″. This should hopefully go some way to helping make up for the fact that you probably weren’t at one of the greatest nights to hit Manchester for a while. Hmmm, at least I think it was - now if only I can remember what actually happened …
When David Met Matthew (A Bowie/Dear Love-In)
Matthew Dear - Sound & Vision (MP3)
As you’re no doubt aware, I love David Bowie. I even threw a party for his 60th birthday (the ignorant so-and-so didn’t turn up, but what the hey, maybe next time). So when I heard about a covers album about to drop, with a stellar roster that’s sure to tick any Beef fan’s boxes - Kelley Polar, Carl Craig, Emperor Machine and a fair few others. And then this, Matthew Dear’s excursion into Low highlight “Sound & Vision”.
As with anything that looks this good on paper, you’re just pressing play, crossing your fingers, and hoping to yourself “please don’t be shit”. Well, I’m pretty sure that it’s safe from that - it sounds just like, well, Matthew Dear … doing … Sound & Vision.
Time to sit right down, and wait for the gift. Or you could just go buy it instead …
I Won’t Flick The Switches, I Won’t Pull The Plugs; I Know It’s Just Glitches, Glitches N Bugs
Shortwave Set - Glitches ‘n’ Bugs (MP3)
When life really drops you in the shit some like to help get it all out to loud angry music, whilst others need the quiet contemplation of listening to sad music. Me, I turn to pseudo-Elephant 6 boy/girl scuzzle-gum Indie pop courtesy of a bunch of South East Londoners and what they got up to when Danger Mouse invited them around for tea.
Music rules and music shoppers really do live longer you know.
Show Me A Sine…
Released on the ‘Nuture‘ label back in 2000, this is the only notable Son.Sine release to date (bar the odd remix here and there). The title track ‘Upekah’ is probably the best known track of the bunch; appearing on a select few compilations, most notably the Studio !K7 affiliated ‘Groovetechnology v1.3′…
However, on the flip lies the equally as ace ‘Karuna’. The producer in question (Leyton ???) sticks strictly to the same formula; dubby basslines, deep chords, and, of course, a multitude of filter and delay effects…
Job well done.
So Where Will You Be On Saturday Morning?
Whilst the John Hughes film soundtrack reference made in every review of M83’s new album ‘Saturdays = Youth’ might not be the product of the most insightful journalism (the press release does a good job of making it more than clear that that was what Anthony Gonzalez was going for), I must agree that it does sound like that ultimate 80’s high school movie that, well, John Hughes never actually got around to making: and ‘Kim & Jessie’ would definitely be played over the closing credits. Just check-out what happens halfway through the bridge at 2 minutes 27 seconds, and then there’s that guitar that plays over the fade that you could swear he’s just lifted from one of Tears For Fears’ finest. Heck, it sounds like it could even have been in that episode of Futurama. And I mean all of this in the best possible way.
It still sounds like M83, but in many ways ‘Saturdays = Youth’ is also so so far away from what he’s done before (just look at the cover for starters). You might have to listen to the whole album to understand what I’m trying to get at, but he sums it up quite succinctly in this explanation of where ‘Kim & Jessie’ came from:
“A lot of people always tell me that M83 is always about melancholy music, so I wanted to write something happy with hooks.”
So apparently it’s that easy to put together something that conjures the very essence of those particular films (as directed by John Hughes or otherwise) as viscerally as one of my favourite scenes in any film (incidentally I’ve got that particular track on a rather ace four leaf clover shaped picture disc that you’d have to pry from my cold, dead hands).
And what’s even better is that it’s sung with the cutest little French accent: if only Monsieur M83 was a mademoiselle *sigh*.
On a couple of completely unrelated notes: the latest broadcast over on Radio Common comes courtesy of Naive Melody’s (and occasional Best Foot Forward super-subs) Slippery People; and Phoenix tease us by releasing a track from their yet-to-be-released new album via some convoluted promotional nonsense.
No Lives Were Saved…
Magic Wands - Black Magic (MP3)
Rubies - I Feel Electric (MP3)
… but despite not getting a chance to put our disco first aid skills to use, giving Kev a hand with last night’s Best Foot Forward was fun anyway, and it also brings my adventures in DJing dangerously close to double figures (but don’t worry, there’s a clandestine society working to ensure that that never happens).
In between being asked if I’ve got anything by Oasis (and it was Kev that was asking! Okay so he was only passing on a request but it still burns), failing to decide what to play next before the current record finished, fading out the wrong records and wondering when Kev was going to get around to sticking on ‘Train In Vain’ (he didn’t! I know!), I actually managed to play some good music.
There was at least two and a half minutes of electrified scuzzle-gum pop perfection courtesy of American boy/girl beat combo Magic Wands.
And one Leslie Feist gave Rubies a hand sounding so much like Vince Clarke I thought it only fitting to play some early Depeche Mode straight after. I might go for Yazoo next time, that’s if the society doesn’t get to me first.
Kev played some good records too.
You Bring Out The Animal In Me
Rat Salad - Cannibalized (MP3)
Friend of Beef and all-round fantastic bloke Leo Elstob (Balearic stalwart and he of A Mountain Of One fame) has just thrown us an exclusive teaser from his new re-edit project. Coming under the alias Rat Salad (a more than slight nod to Black Sabbath) this is Leo and his old mucker Rupert from Grand National cutting and splicing up a version of I Eat Cannibals, that ode to to the positives of prandial flesh-munching. This is a real piece of floor filling greatness, and should be on their debut ep about to hit your local record shops any time soon …
Balearic Love…
Chris Rea - Josephine (La Version Francaise) (MP3)
On inspection of our tag cloud “visual depicter” this morning, i was a little bit saddened to see that Indie was pulling all the punches in the battle of the bold. So, in a drastic attempt to re-align the Balearic to Indie ratio, what better way to instigate a Balearic bouleversement than with one of the most Balearic records out there - Chris Rea’s ‘Josephine’…
Stay Calm (It’s Only Been A Month…)
Calm - Running On The Sand (MP3)
Calm - Sitting On The Beach (MP3)
Desperately trying to avoid a stint in the BFF naughty corner, I thought it best to pull my finger out quick sharp before the blog police (Chris and Kev) notice that it’s been over a month since my last post. Whoops…
Not wanting to rush into things too much, a good a place to start as any, is with the maharishi of all things downtempo, Kiyotaka Fukagawa, a.k.a Calm. Not really heard much from Calm of late; he is probably too busy with his new(ish), and most excellent side project, ‘Japanese Synchro System‘. The last album I purchased was way back in 2000, and is the breathtakingly laidback ‘Shadow Of The Earth’ on Exceptional records.
Personal highlights on said LP are ‘Long Way, Long Time (The Second Page Of Creator’s Delight)’ and ‘Dubbing For The Nature #2 (Waltz For The Virgin Forest)’, which were also released on a lovely little LP sampler on BFF label of choice, Music For Dreams. You should, by now, know how much we wax lyrical about that Danish label, so, to avoid repeating myself, (and to avoid Mr Bager issuing a law suit against us for posting something close to his entire back catalogue), it’s probably best we go with something else.
‘Running On The Sand’ and ‘Sitting On The Beach’ are that something else. Not only are they both a perfectly calm re-introduction to the BFF blog, they also issue a few subtle hints as to why I haven’t really been on here too much…
We Are The Champions, My Friends
Queen - We Are The Champions (MP3)
It’s not often about football here, but if not now then never - Champions of Europe! Flying the Mancunian flag …
