Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Stinky Grooves 27.07.10 a touch of Tifa, some selections from Saca La Mois and a little Los Reyes De La Milanga..

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Tocarte Tio - Los Reyes de la Milanga (Cabeza!)
Cinco (Chancha Via Circuito Rmx) - Ruby Suns (Sub Pop)
Campesino Urbano (Dub) - Kinky Electric Noise (soundcloud)
La Haitiana - Sonido del Principe vs The Peronists (free at scattermish)
Bocachico (ft Frente Cumbiero Rmx) - Tio Chango (Chusma)
Funky Tamazula (Cumbia Cosmonauts Rmx) - Clorofila (Nortec Collective)(free at scattermish)
Next Level - Bling Dawg (Yard Vybz)
Watch Gyal - Gyptian (Yard Vybz)
Careless - Wayne Marshall (Yard Vybz)
Nah Stop Shine - Tifa (Fedda Weight)
Haunted - Gappy Ranks (Romiech)
Woman Needs - Shabba Ranks (Free Willy)
50 Pound Riddim Dub Mix - Mafia McKoy tha Blaqk Sheep (Loud Disturbance)
Fake Off (Eero Johannes Rmx) - Jean Jacques Perrey & Cosmic Pocket (InVitro Records)
Dubby Struts In Trenchtown (RIFS #2) - Tom Recchion (Birdman)
STRT SRNS - Wise Blood (bandcamp)
Hjurt - Forest Swords (No Pain In Pop)
English Weather Boy - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
Hardcore Cherry Bomb - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
Dubstep Demon (Vox) - G Corp Meets The Mighty Tree Ft 90 (G Corp Music)
Dubstep Demon (Vox) - G Corp (G Corp Music)
Wonderfield - Lanny May (Cinematique)
Hafer Gabrak Bidi - Omar Souleyman (Sublime Frequencies)
Los Poderes - Rita Indiana y Los Misterios (Dutty Artz)
Echate Pall - Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno (Tru Thoughts)
La Danza Azteca - Nahuatl Sound System (free at scattermish)
Puente - Chancha Via Circuito (ZZK)
Bacardi Cola (El Hijo De La Cumbia Slow Rmx) - Irie Maffia (soundcloud)
La Colarada (Super Guachin Rmx) - Pibes Chorros (soundcloud)
Llegamos Los Pibes Chorros - Los Pibes Chorros (Man Recordings)
Cumbia Colegiala (Mezla De Soleo) - Copia Doble System (Urban World)
CIA - Ghost (Musicforheads)
C-Beams - Pariah (R&S)
Portobello - Sandro Delepedro (Cabeza!)
Smooth Skin - Quest (Deep Medi)
Tealeaf Dancers Prove It Jackbox - Scott Detail (soundcloud)
Evening Glow - SBTRKT & Sampha (Ramp)
Vomit Dub - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
Jen's Clock (Forest Swords Rmx) - Becoming Real (Ramp Records)
Truckers Carousel - Tom Recchion (Birdman)
Gravy Train - Jackdaw With Crowbar (Hybrid Cuts)
Future Echo - The Oscillation (All Time Low)
Seven Down Six Across - Allez Allez (RVNG Intl)
Centro - Tropico Emeralda (Viamas)

Well the thing I'd most like to share right now is just a simple click away at the Scattermish blog, where I believe I may have directed you once or twice before. DJ Saca La Mois (of the Cumbia Cosmonauts and many fine Melbournian tings) has truly outdone himself with his latest effort, Americas Vol 2. It aint all cumbia, but there's a rigorously healthy preponderance of that fine stuff, alongside more esoteric fare, all culled from the very finest South America has to offer. It's a free download, decent quality and all that... what are you waiting for?? Get to it.
In case you can't be arsed moving your mouse up a few rows of text, here's that link again DO..IT!

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Also more than worthy of a flick of your music seeking wrist, and sure to cause a dip in your hip and a nodding noggin are a slew of fresh, fruity and free audio finery from the gino-generous peoples at the Cabeza! netlabel. Their latest includes mash-ups from soundcloud recidivist Cherman, uptempto tackle from Black Diamond and a real pearler from Los Reyes De La Milanga. The latter is superior blendy hoo-ha, I can say that with confidence because I reject a veritable trailerload of obvious hiphop/reggae/elsewhere vox over ho-hum beats every week, and I've been running this (especially the 'Tocarte Tio Remix' and 'Basshead' cut) ragged for a couple of weeks now. 'Paper Planes' is a tune that never sat easy with me, but given the LRdlM treatment with the Puerto Rican don of all dons Tego Calderon sat pon top, .... well I'm a believer. It's free and have a graze round Cabeza!s pastures if you haven't before because they have some monstrously good cumbia and cousins (musically speaking), and they also have a few digital 'singles' you can buy, so be a sport and support.
Get thee to Cabeza! now and don't spare the bandwidth ( the Sandro Dalepedro, Nixtamal, Mykol Orthodox, Super Guachin, Sonidero Cordobestia, Fantasma and Zurita releases are my picks of the litter btw).

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By way of a tune to post for the week it feels like a minute or two since there's been any bashmenteering round these parts so here's a tip from Tifa on the Mento Rhythm that you can't go wrong with. 'Nah Stop Shine' is positively motivational and all things considered that can't be bad news given JA's perilous ongoing scenario. Tifa (along with her TNT comrades Timberlee and Natalie Storm .....) has been justifiably picking up props for quite some time, proving to be a bit of a shining light in dancehall's murky corners. The rhythm's got a lovely 'Joyride'-ish bounce so what more needs to be said. Enjoy....

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NAH STOP SHINE - TIFA

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Stinky Grooves 20.07.10 and Dokkebi Q bring the serious dread

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Paper Pimp - Los Reyes de la Milanga (Cabeza!)
Mostro (Black Mandingo Lowmix) - Dante Spinetta (Cabeza!)
Bass Head (Remix) - Los Reyes de la Milanga (Cabeza!)
Campesino Urbano (Dub) - Kinky Electric Noise (soundcloud)
Only U (Remix) - Shaggy & Barrington Levy (Sting Intl)
Nutten Na Gwan Fi Dem - Mr Lexx (Dwajay)
Get Gal Fi Free - Vybz Kartel (Dwajay)
Exit 21 Version - Dwajay (Dwajay)
Bacardi & Cola (El Hijo De La Cumbia Rmx) - Irie Maffia (soundcloud)
La Colorada (Super Gauchin Rmx) - Pibes Chorros (soundcloud)
Echata Palla - Quantic Presents Flowering Inferno (Tru Thoughts)
Black Vomit - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
Skank Into The Sky - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
No No No - LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun)
Porque - Jahmiga (Jahmiga)
Up In Smoke - Coco Solid (Coco Solid)
Fake Off (Eero Johannes Rmx) - Jean Jaques Perrey & Cosmic Pocket (InVitro Records)
Touch Of Evil (Cuckoo Mix) - Jaga Jazzist (Ninja Tune)
Du Va La Vie - Toog (Karaoke Kalk)
The Slum - Pariah (R&S)
Karibu Ya Bintou - Baloji ft Konono No 1 (Kraked)
Ghost Rider - Gavin Friday & Dave Ball (Blast First Petite)
No Ta Llevando El Diablo - Rita Indiana (Dutty Artz)
Ill Equipped And Assimilated - Drab Doo Riffs (Drab Music)
Pari Ruu - Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics (Strut)
Chinese Song - Dan Bau Vietnam (Trikont)
Rider In The Sky - Dan Bau Vietnam (Trikont)
Before I Move Off - Mount Kimbie (Hot Flush)
Carbonated - Mount Kimbie (Hot Flush)
Charly Garcia vs Loefah - Villa Diamante (soundcloud)
Ya Basta (Todos Som Inmigrantes) - El Remolon ft Lido Pimienta (ZZK)
Aqui Conmigo - Lido Pimento (Lido Myspace)
Gook Dub - Dokkebi Q (3QREQ)
Glory Gongs - Forest Swords (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Postcards From The Edge - Ghost (Musicforheads)
Ode To AMDM - Ghost (Musicforheads)
Puente - Chancha Via Circuito (ZZK)
Cinco (Chancha Via Circuito Rmx) - The Ruby Suns (Sub Pop)
Portobello - Sandro Delepedro (Cabeza!)
Muevelo - Sonido Desconocido II
Diamonds, Fur Coat, Champagne - Thomas Brinkmann (Blast First Petite)

Well the Gainsbourg flick was pretty good, excellent in some parts and a little lagging in others, still... whether you've got a Serge album or two, or you know absolutely nothing about him - it's worth a look. This week please don't overlook the post below with news about the screening of 'Timeless' and further treatology from the Film Fest, and while you're about doing that have a little listen to the pleasantly uncompromising sounds of Dokkebi Q on 3QREQ. I've actually been a bit slack with this album ('Hardcore Cherry Bob Bon') as I was aware of its existence, but never got round to giving it a listen. Rectified that this week and have to say I was pulling out the virtual wallet and buying them files pretty quick, I rate it! Basically it's the other group of Kiki Hitomi (from Kevin 'The Bug' Martin's King Midas Sound and also Black Chow which is just her and Kevvy Kev) and a geezer called Goh 'Gorgonn' Nakada, who certainly isnt afraid of making a racket and running them needles into the red. The album is fucked up and good and refreshingly dirty for a dubwise affair, it's my belief we need more of this kind of thing, enormous amounts in fact, if we have that - then we may start to balance out all the bland namby pamby soulyjazzydubby crap that has infiltrated music that started off with attitude and a spirit of rebellion and adventure.It's a war and I suggest you enlist by pursuing this record further, them links stinks and they will lead you to good places...

Buy files from Juno or CD from Piccadilly etc etc
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BLACK VOMIT - DOKKEBI Q

Filmeration malarkey

A bit of a pre-emptive post this one as I've been meaning to get this up and out for a week or so but crookness, annual hooha and other things have got in the way. Not too often you'll find me wittering on about fillums and what have you but there's a couple that really deserve a bit of attention right about now.
Off to see the Gainsbourg movie this arvo, it has to be something pretty special to nudge out the usual Tuesday show prep ritual and I'm hoping it will be, let you know later (and don't worry renking raydio peoples, was up way late last night/this morning making sure that all are present and correct for an odiferous spin cycle across the airwaves tonight).
Not part of the Film Fest but definitely worthy of attention for Aucklandites is the Timeless movie (nothing to do with Goldie...praise the heavens) which is getting a showing at Khjua tomorrow night. I've been lucky enough to spend some time with the DVD of this and it is pretty darned special, beautifully shot and musically on-point - it's a must see. This is part of an ongoing programme which we'll keep you updated on as it looks like there are some proper oper visual treats on the way. In the meantime get along to this and support it, or never complain about the unhealthiness of a Hollywood diet of nae-brain, crash, bang, wallop wankery ever again...

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Also definitely worth a look is The Wind Journeys which is an amazing Colombian epic that we checked out on the weekend. To cut a long story short - there's accordions, even an accordion duel/soundclash (unmissable), a touch of Faustian Robert Johnson type crossroads behaviour, a very Kung Fu style journey in search of 'the master' and some of the most incredible, stunning Colombian scenery you could imagine. It's beyond a visual feast, more of a veritable smorgasbord for the eyes (and ears) and judging by the audience at the Bridgeway (we were the youngest by at least a decade or two from what we could see ...eek!) it's passed a lot of people by who would really really enjoy it. There's one more showing in AK (Thursday 22nd at the wonderful Civic) and I say cancel plans, fob folks off and make your way..you won't be dissapointed. And Welli folks you have it all to come, you lucky blighters.

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and tonight I have fire from so many different angles, knowing this was going to be a race against time there's been some fruitful hunting and gathering from my most choicest digital vendors, alongside a few pieces of emailed excellence as well as all the usual blog trawled and soundcloud scavenged bits and fleeces - the only problem is going to be fitting as much in as humanly possible. Hope to see you on the other side of the airwaves or internut equivalent...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Stinky Grooves 13.07.07 and look down for a Matt Shadetek interview, just below

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Rome, Rome - Sugar Minott (Black Roots)
Come Sister Come - Sugar Minott (Black Roots)
Wicked Ago Feel It - Sugar Minott (Wackies)
Herbman Hustling - Sugar Minott (Taxi)
Front Line - Sugar Minott (Greensleeves)
Africa Is The Black Mans Home - Sugar Minott (Jabba Roots)
Africa Is The Black Mans Version - Sugar Minott (Jabba Roots)
Rub A Dub Style - Sugar Minott & Hollowpoint (Loud Disturbance)
Mr Landlord - Admiral Tibet (Loud Disturbance)
Money Train - Gappy Ranks (Loud Disturbance)
Dubplate Style - Hawkeye (Loud Disturbance)
50 Pound - Richie Brema (Loud Disturbance)
50 Pound Riddim Dub - Mafia McKoy Tha Blaqk Sheep (Loud Disturbance)
Opera - Busy Signal (VP)
Stink Ah Road (Platta Soca Refix) - Konshens
Bacardi Cola (El Hijo De La Cumbia Remix 1) - Irie Maffia (Shiftin' Gears)
Los Poderes - Rita Indiana Y Los Misterios (Dutty Artz)
Deportes - Chancha Via Circuito (ZZK)
Basta Ya (Todos Somos Inmigrantes) - El Remolon ft Lido Pimienta (ZZK)
Quimey Neuquen (Chancha Via Circuito remix) - Jose Larralde (ZZK)
La Colorada (Super Guachin Rmx) - Pibes Chorros (soundcloud)
Los Pajaritos (Feeling Edit) - Erick Rincon (soundcloud)
Mujeres - El Remolon (ZZK)
Stop The Party (Remix) - Busta Rhymes ft TI, Cam'ron, Ghostface & DMX (The Conglomerate)
Get Wild - Kano ft Aidonia & Wiley (Bigger Picture Music)
Karibu Ya Bintou (ft Konono No 1) - Baloji (Kraked)
Yaya ft Larose (Chief Boima Rmx) - Mr OK (Malacism)
Bonus Beat - Onra (All City)
Postcards From The Edge - Ghost (Musicforheads)
Ode To AMDM - Ghost (Musicforheads)
Foundational Dub (Headhunter Rmx) - Dubkasm (Sufferahs Choice)
Dem Outtta Here - Process Rebel (Subinfinity)
Strength In Numbers - Matt Shadetek (Dutty Artz)
Eyez - Digital Mystikz (DMZ)
Crosseyed - Albert (Studio Rockers)
The Slump - Parriah (R&S)
Looking In - LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun)
No No No - LA Vampires Meets Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun)
Traffic Jam - Toog (Karaoke Kalk)
Lord What A Wonderful World - Luie Luie (Companion)
Ghost Riders In The Sky - Dan Bau Vietnam (Trikont)
Ill Equipped And Assimilated - The Drab Doo Riffs (Drab Music)
Seven Down Six Across - Allez Allez (RVNG Intl)
Future Echo - The Oscillation (All Time Low)

Hokay before I start need to mention that there's a couple of additions to the Tame Impala post below, found the original original transcript and there was a couple of things I'd missed that were worth including. (Oi chucked 'em in at the end being the delicate artiste Iyam)
The photo (from the recent JA unrest/curfews/madness) is a little appropriate as I could do with a bit of health right now, the wealth wouldn't go amiss either. I've thrown all me crook energies into getting the Matt Shadetek interview sorted out which is in the post below with a track from 'Flowers' that I played tonight and a little bonus too (thanks to Matt for letting us do that).
Enjoy and I'll be back when I'm right, or at least a bit weller ( though I'm more of the Phlegmphather than the Modfather right now).
Jolly good , as you were......

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Matt Shadetek Interview -

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Stinky Grooves listeners, Aromatherapy attendees (and also probably our neighbours,) will be well familiar with the fact that I'm somewhat taken by Matt Shadetek's 'Flowers' album. I've been checking and playing his gear for a while, but there's been a real sense of build-up to this record, with supreme gear like the 'Solar Life Raft' mix-CD/mission statement, alongside co-pilot and fellow Dutty Artz founder DJ /rupture, and his work on Jahdan Blakkamoores electrifying 'Buzzrock Warrior' amongst much much more.
With the like of Gecko Jones, Chief Boima (been loving his stuff of late), the aforementioned Mr Blakkamoore, Uproot Andy, Lamin Fofana, La Yegros and their latest excellent addition Dominican bombashell and punk mambo artiste Rita Indiana y Los Misterios - Dutty Artz have definitely got their quality control and audio ADD in close alignment, making them somewhat of a super-sneaky, top shelf, maxi-media globo-conglomerate in a refreshingly humble and low key way.

I could go on and on (and let's face it, I usually do) but yous folks know how to ping your way round the details on the internet, and the interview should tip you in the right directions anyways. As comes across in one of my rambley-ass excuses for a question (I do love the lack of transcription with email interviews, but don't rate the practice of having to write constructs for observations/questions that would come up naturally in conversation...anyways) it's the singularity and discipline of 'Flowers' that really reaches me. At a time when so much post-grime/dubstep/electronic gear is pleasant, but failing to really register with me - this does partly because (in keeping with recent mightyness from Lorn and Mount Kimbie etc) it gets right in there macroscopically, Neil Stephenson style and fashion, if you will.

It's a record I've chosen to listen to a LOT at home, and that's more than a sign of a keeper in this age of over-stimulation and a veritable 24-7 tsunami of the good, the bad, and mainly the indifferent. I don't suggest you check 30 seconds snippets of tracks on iTunes etc, it won't come across. Either take my word for it and follow them links below for an immediate Shadetekeration, or first find somewhere (like Juno or Boomkat) where you can have a proper, if interrupted listen and get stuck in. There's a swathe of moods, styles and flavours on 'Flowers', many of which aren't revealed instantly, so you should allow yourselves to photosynthesize with this record for a while... if you will.

Poor puns aside I'm particularly chuffed that Matt OK'd 'Strength In Numbers' as a track to post as this track gives me the feeling of where the Disciples (Russ Bell-Brown's seismic sound and productions that is) and their stepping cronies might have ended up in 2010, if they had been led just far enough astray. I rinsed this track, like a man possessed, when it was fully unleashed on the 'Solar Life Raft Ingredients', and it always raises a grin when it pops up on the album.
I had intended to have time to digitise some stuff from Matt's back cat (see how I did that) but being under the weather and all... it hasn't happened. Check 'Brooklyn Anthem' on YouTube, with a title like that you have to pack a punch and it does, creating a dance phenomenonynonynonynom in the process. There's plenty more Shadetek gear out there and findable - as Team Shadetek with Zach Tucker, on the solo tip, and in collaboration with the likes of Rupture (their recent Chief Boima remix is monstrous). As ever the discogs page is good for getting under starters orders.
Sooooo there's also an instro-gem from Jahdan Blakkamoore's scorchulating 'We Are Raiders' digi and 12" release (there was a CD but I think that may not be around anymore), this is some mental fairground proto-grime and I have to say, as much as I love 'Buzzrock Warrior' - my copies (all formats, sad fanbwoy style) of 'We Are Raiders' must be twice as worn out - never failed me yet!

Hope you enjoy the words and tunes (192 versions only and up for a weekish) and if you do, support quality tackle and pit your moolah where your mouth is please, links below for just that, and don't forget to check Dutty Artz on the regular too...
Buy at iTunes
Buy at
Boomkat
Buy at
Juno Download


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How loose or tight is Dutty Artz as an organization? You seem to have a lot
going on but then it also feels like it just happens?
"It's very loose. A lot of the time it just happens and also just doesn't happen. We are all busy creative people so getting everyone on the same page or in the same room and finishing things is always a challenge. But we also aim for that looseness and spontaneity. As a small group of people we try to not be too hide bound and overdefine what we're doing. If we all suddenly feel like starting a streaming radio show, or doing youtube videos, or writing something for the blog, we just do it. That's part of the fun of it. Right now I'm excited about our UStream radio show which is also uploaded to our site, it's on every Thursday from 7-9 EST at
http://www.ustream.tv/duttyartznyc and you can also see video of some previous sessions there. It's pretty chaotic, sometime late or dysfunctional and a lot of fun, very Dutty Artz."

Whats next? (for you and for Dutty Artz)
"What's next for DA is a series of digital singles. Upcoming releases include a single from Rita Indiana a new Dominican singer who does sort of punk mambo, the debut EP from Mosholu Park who DA fans already know as Lamin and an instrumental EP from me called Dutty House."

Did you go into Flowers with very specific ideas in mind? (The tempo and sound palette are quite rigid, but that allows the focus to be on what you do with it)
"Yes, I knew I wanted something that would work for DJs and on a dancefloor but also serve as kind of ornamental music in your life, almost decorative in a way. Something pretty you could put on while cleaning the house and feel good with but that would also stand up on headphones or in your car or wherever. I had originally planned to do it as a dj mix but the way the tracks turned out I turned against it late in the process, hence the rigidity in tempo. They are all exactly 140bpm. I ended up settling for a few seamless segues between tracks on the final record in gapless playback."

The lack of discernible vocals and non-use of vocalists (I'm not sure I would ever leave the studio if i had access to Jahdan etc!) is also a feature (or a not-feature) I find this quite interesting considering the net-conversation you started a couple of years back on the Babel tip. With almost no vocal signifiers, this allows Flowers to actually able to live in its' own space.
"Jahdan actually appears on the record in pitched up form, two of the tiny vocal samples I use are from him. As far as the overall decisions not to use vocalists a big part of that is that when I work with Jahdan or anyone else in the end they pick the tracks. I come with a big pool of stuff and play it and they say 'yeah, give me that one'. So it's all me but they are having a big input in what ends upon the record by what they feel inspired to sing or rap on. In this case I wanted to express something that was the singular vision of one person. And I also want to break away from contemporary movements and tropes a bit and just do exactly what I felt like doing. Obviously there are influences in there but I am quite pleased with how much the record stands on it's own with it's own sound and identity."

You said in an interview that the dj mix will probably replace the album in electronic music, and to a certain extent it already has, at least on the net. I kind of hope you're wrong because the overload of mixes/podcasts and the like, the vast majority of which are genre-fied tosh or bandwaggonist directionless tackle, is precisely why the music that I like to think of as distinctive and somehow macroscopic have been so enveloping and rewarding. Doesn't an album like 'Flowers' fly in the face of that statement?
"In a way it does. One thing that separates Flowers or something like Solar Life Raft which we called a 'mix album' is that it is all original music or drawn from a close group of people, not just a bunch of the new hot records which is what most podcasts are. Truthfully I think the mixed format will prevail for economic reasons, since it is a way to push people to buy a full record and not just the single or the two songs they like."

For a while it felt like you were amongst a small rabble flying the flag for grime outside of the UK. That doesn't feel like it's influencing your own music as much (though there are things that scream grime to me like the violin on Spirits etc) on Flowers? Can you tell me a little about your involvement with grime, you stayed in the UK for some time right?
"I was very inspired by grime since it brought together many of my lifelong passions: hiphop, dancehall, experimental sounds and dance music. I got heavily involved when I was living in Berlin and would fly to England regularly. I also toured Europe extensively with Jammer and his Neckle Camp crew, of which I'm a member. Grime continues to inspire and inform my music now but in different ways.
Actually for me Flowers is a very grime influenced record with a few tweaks. It's influenced by a thread of grime though which is the more plastic melodic instrumental stuff by people like Wiley and Ruff Sqwad. Obviously it's all filtered through my own sensibility but I feel like a lot of the tightly sequenced melodic parts on the record are very informed by grime."

What are your feelings on the current state of dancehall ? (Can Busy Signal save the world?)
"Busy Signal is definitely a big voice in dancehall right now, I'm very inspired by what he's doing both lyrically and in terms of flow. Check out Bigger Heads if you're unsure. Stephen 'The Genius' McGregor is a constant feature of my DJ sets and a big influence as well. Kartel is definitely doing a lot and I'm really enjoying him. There are also a new crop of singers and DJs that are catching my ears, people like Professor, Savage, Tifa, Timberlee and Natalie Storm. There's always a lot of talent coming out of Jamaica."

Is Team Shadetek done?
"Yup. As far as I know Zack is no longer making music but everything I'm doing is as Matt Shadetek now."


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STRENGTH IN NUMBERS - MATT SHADETEK

PAYOLA RIDDIM - MATT SHADETEK
(Once again sponsored by ((bracket fenzy)) and amateur grammatics - if you want the well thought out and laboured over gear, read the print in the soon come August Real Groove)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Tame Impala - Innerspeaker - Kevin Parker Interview Extras

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Unbelievably.. I'm looking at today, and there is some clear space ahead of me. After a chunk of fairly full on writing (Listener & Real Groove readers have a bunch of stuff on the way in July/August that I'm well excited about) and a lot of other stoof, that is magnificent news at the very least. So it's about time this here blog got a little more love, and even though I'm all written out, this is something I've been waiting to ravulate about for some time.

In the July Real Groove you can find my short interview with Kevin Parker of Tame Impala. I haven't been reticent in proclaiming my total fanboyship for the Perth purveyors of soft-psych-groove-excellence on the radio, round these parts and in print, and I suspect that will go on for some time as 'Innerspeaker' is pretty much running neck-and-neck with Lido Pimienta's 'Color' as my pick of the year thus far. Those two discs have certainly hogged the stereo round the Stinky gates in 2010, and rightfully so.

Hanyways the reality of doing stuff for print, word counts, mag styles and trying your damnedest to get folks interested and checking out the music, does mean that often the parts of an interview that most interest me are left out. So here for your edification and perusal, are the remainder of the answers from the interview I did for Real Groove. I'm pretty happy with how that piece turned out (and even happier with the Listener review) and that can be found on the news-stands (if such things still exist) and it makes sense in a way that these odds and sods don't, but you're grown-ups and smart folk so you dont need the mag soft soap. Have yourself a meal on the leftovers, and if you haven't already - give yourself a chance to be consumed by 'Innerspeaker', it's really frightfully good. Almost as good as Spain doing the Gemermans this morning, I'm not sure I could have got out of bed that willingly for a Germany vs Holland final, and I'm relived that at least one of the teams I picked out for the title has got close, at least.

As ever I digress (is there a term for digress squared? I think I may need it with my rambling ways). Q's and A's below and we'll be having a bit more of this soon with a Matt Shadetek piece (that isnt leftovers but specifically for the blog) and a whole heap of stuff from my upcoming ZZK/digital cumbia/Chancha Via Circuito/Tremor piece which will be in the August Real Groove...

Buy the album from here (adopts gothy Andrew Eldritch voice...) 'it's just a click away'... that's a weak 'Gimme Shelter' reference for any black-clad folk. You can cop it here in the physical


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Innerspeaker is very different to the EP's.
"Exactly and it was doubly that because I’ve never really recorded a batch of songs all at the same time, it was always just song by song just for the hell of it. You know the EP was not in anyway recorded for an EP. The songs that were on the EP weren’t even recorded at the same time, they were done over a bunch of years."


The close links with excellent Sydney by way of Perth deadly disco duo Canyons (check out their remix of 'Solitude is Bliss' here, it's fire!! and if you haven't already their remixes of HGFW etc from the early EPs are beyond essential)
"They used to run a label which Tame Impala used to sort of be on. We released a 12” vinyl with them once, on one side it had three Tame Impala songs and on the other it was the same three songs remixed by Canyons and that was realy cool, it was a really casual relationship. We always talked about releasing things but we never got round to it because I’d just go round to his house and talk about music for a while. So we never actually got anything pressed until we had signed with Modular and then we went back and did stuff with Canyons. They’ve remixed one of the songs from the album which is on the 12” single with 'Solitude'."

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On recording their version of Blueboy's 'Remember Me' at the fabled Toerag studios in London and whether that was an option they considered instead of heading off to a house overlooking the Inidan Ocean to record with Death In Vegas's Tim Holmes.
"It wasn’t a matter of going that’s, cool, thanks but no thanks. It was just an opportunity to not be in control of everything. There was no-one really doing any producing, we just played the song how it was destined to be played and then Liam recorded it and just did his thing. We just wanted to do the Toerag thing basically and it was a really awesome experience, the sound he gets at Toerag are amazing its like no other studio in the world both visually and sonically."

On the record leaking, and how rubbish it sounded as a lo-fi leak.
"It leaked a couple of weeks before it came out, and it leaked in a really crappy quality, that was a real bummer. It was kind of bittersweet because I was glad that people could finally hear it, I wasn’t that pissed off about the sales or release or whatever it was just the way it was in a bad form how it sounded you know how you can hear those kind of digital square noises, like squares coming out at you from the speakers."

By his own admission Kevin is a perfectionist and having played almost all of the instruments himself on 'Innerspeaker' whether there is a point where a record is actually finished and the fiddling can stop.
"I played a lot of the song to people while we were mixing it, while we were putting it together and I had all the tracks there and I could change the EQ and compression and everything. When I played it to someone I had to be constantly be changing something, yeah its difficult to listen to it with other people and not want to fidget with it and alter it in every way."

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On Death In Vegas's Tim Holmes who engineered the record and whose idea that was (points and priuzes to Modular on that one, most of their gear doesn't bake my cake but when they get it right....respect!)
"It was a record label decision but Tim was such a good guy, so laid back and not absorbed in his own career, that he was happy to sit back and help when needed. You know he was not in any way trying to preach his ideas all the time, or trying to validate his being there, for him it was just basically a 7 week holiday in some remote location on the West coast of Australia…"

With a bit of mic placement?
"Yeah exactly, that’s actually exactly what he said 'I’ll just bring my fishing road and help out with mic placement every now and then.' He couldn’t believe his luck!"

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Are you in a place where you can listen to the album now? Have you gone past the "can't see the woods for the trees" and "everytime I listen I want to change something no-one else will probably ever even notice" stages yet?
"(laughs) Yes I know them. I am able to listen to it now, it will always be tainted with memories of putting it together but I can listen to it now, provided I’m by myself. If I’m with anyone else I get too absorbed by their headspace and I start thinking about how they’re going to hear it. So if I’m with anyone else, then I’ll often turn it off, but if I’m by myself I can listen to it all the way through and really enjoy it."

What's the story with Pond?
" Pond is one of the many congealings of noise that we make. Tame Impala is just another one, that’s my kind of baby. We live quite communally , we live and breathe music and we make little musical projects every now and then that usually someone is the leader of. We’ve got many of them, Pond is one, Tame Impala is just one of them. Pond is Jay and Nicks main thing. Jay and Nick were off recording an album for Pond while most of the Tame Impala album was being done. It’s a really amazing band actually, it started out as a joke and now they’ve got a really good album. So I’ll have to watch out people are saying that Pond will catch up with tame Impala quicker than everyone thinks, which is probably true actually. Their new album is really good."

And finally here's a coupla vids for those of that persuasion, the first was made by our mucker Joel from Special Problems and it's scorchulating.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Stinky Grooves 06.07.10 & magnificent moodyness UK/US style

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Opera - Busy Signal (VP)
Busy Latino - Busy Signal (VP)
Yes Dawg - Busy Signal (VP)
War Dance - The Heatwave & Serocee (Heatwave)
He Was A Friend - King Kong (Dug Out)
He Was A Friend Dub - King Kong (Dug Out)
Porque - Jahmiga (Jahmiga)
Zulu - Hey-O-Hansen (Pingipung)
Moses (Forsaken Remix) - Dubkasm (Sufferahs Choice)
City Walls (Gemmy Remix) - Dubkasm (Sufferahs Choice)
Pop Pop Epic - Digital Mystikz (DMZ)
Livin Different - Digital Mystikz (DMZ)
Untitled - Joe (Apple Pips)
Basta Ya (Todos Somos Inmigrantes) - El Remolon ft Lido Pimienta (ZZK)
Pintar El Sol (Chancha Via Circuito Rmx) - Miriam Garcia & Alicia Solans (ZZK)
Buena Malicia (Los Amparito Rmx) - Carla Morrison (soundcloud)
Tropikalipsis - Kumbia Queers (Comfort Zone)
Los Poderes - Rita Indiana Y Los Misterios (Dutty Artz)
Me Gusto (Sonora Rmx) - Mexicans With Guns ft Chico Mann
Mandal/Metel II Sukkar Ala II Shai (I Don't Know Like The Sugar In Tea) - Omar Souleyman (Sublime Frequencies)
Ngozi - BBC (Honest Jons)
Lloyd Lets Loose - Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics (Jazzman)
Latin Lloyd Miller & The Heliocentrics (Jazzman)
Howl - The Drive (Strut)
Blockhead - The Monks (Strut)
Funky Message - Heroes (Strut)
No No No - LA Vampire & Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun)
Searching - LA Vampire & Zola Jesus (Not Not Fun)
Glory Gongs - Forest Swords (Olde English Spelling Bee)
Rattling Cage - Forest Swords (No Pain In Pop)
Solitude Is Bliss (Canyons Rmx) - Tame Impala (Modular)
Femme Fatale - Aloe Blacc (Stones Throw)
Estrella - Tom Eno (Jack 2 Phono)
Cinco (Chancha Via Cicuito Rmx) - The Ruby Suns (Sub Pop)
La Guajira - El Remolon (Chusma)
Fatbot Es Lim (Tremor Rmx) - Tremor/Intima (ZZK)
Karibu Ya Bintou - Baloji ft Konono No 1 (Kraked)
Polocaust - Mr Oizo & Gaspard Aguge (Ed Banger)
Rubber (Flying Lotus Remix) - Mr Oizo & Gaspard Aguge (Ed Banger)
Seven Down Six Across - Allez Allez (RVNG Intl)

In time honoured tradition here's an odd one from Pocohaunted's Amanda Brown (LA Vampire) and Former Ghosts' Nika Roza Danilova (Zola Jesus). I kind of run 50/50 on both their stuff, alternating between wondering if it's desperately tryhard and iffy, or swooning at the possibilities of swoonsome lo-fi dubbedoutness - and how there's still unfinished business on that tip from that time, post-punk and pre-future actor nonces in kilts and frilly shirts, when experimentation was far more prevalent than it often feels it is today. Back when I were a lad.... I'll grab my rocking chair and travel rug.
Hanyways this version of Dawn Penn's 'No No No' (well actually Robert Parkers but I suspect they are ..ahem riffing on her version) will maybe delight some, and definitely wind up others. Good. Leave some eloquent abuse in the comments if you feel the latter, personally I love it for a thousand reasons. I met Dawn Penn in Melbourne recently actually, even though I didn't go to see her show, and she was proper lovely.
There's also some right crackers on the rest of the 7 track release, I'm already big on 'Searching' , 'Bone Is Bloodstone' and 'Looking In' too, and I only picked up on it today!
I bought it from Boomkat, you can too, right here

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NO NO NO - LA VAMPIRES MEETS ZOLA JESUS

As a wee bonus - in some ways similar, in others completely different I'm rating the sound of Liverpudlian Forest Swords.
His 'Dagger Paths' EP on Olde English Spelling Bee certainly got my attention and Rattling Cage (check video below) from his upcoming single on No Pain In Pop holds and raises. Again it's lo-fi tackle, deliciously haunted with genuine dub touches that pack far more punch than some rent-a-skank rankness.
Buy here (digi only, wax sold out)

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GLORY GONGS - FOREST SWORDS



Check this fruity freshness from Mr Oizo and (Justice's) Gaspard Auge, it's editlicious and I'm rather fond of this track and the excellent EP it comes from, which I can't link to as it's either not out yet or my google skills are as lame as the English defence. Let's not go there,or France or Argentina Brazil or Italy... etc etc

And yus Thursday will be Aormatherapyising merrily at the Ginger Minx, and also tomorrow night I will be Dylan C's guest for the Loop Sessions at Rakinos on High Street. Would be toppity notch to see any StinkInc readers (and what a growing mob you are) at either of them thar delightful events... Piyow.