2011 was the year I started buying 'new' music again. As in actually making an effort to go to a record store to buy records by people who are still alive and making music. The last few years record shopping involved going to second-hand places and getting very dusty, rooting around in bargain bins on my hands and and knees like some bearded weirdo panning a Californian river in the hope of finding a nugget of gold.
Which isn't to say I didn't do that too. In fact I had a bumper year for crate digging and at one point found ~£300 worth of records (according to discogs anyway) for a mere £20.
So over the next few day I'll make up a few lists of stuff I bought/found/did in 2011, should anyone find it in any way interesting:
Ten 12" records of 2011 which I thought were really good (in no particular order):
Levon Vincent - Man or Mistress [Novel sound NYC]
There's been a lot of hoo-ha about Levon Vincent which I didn't really understand. Then I heard this. Just perfect really. Sonically beautiful & perfectly structured with a subtle yet demanding breakdown. I love every moment of this track.
Doubleheart - Salsa [Nonplus+]
JD Twitch of Optimo and Neil Landstrumm's collaboration led to a "what the fuck is this?" record which I'm sure would be called 'Post-dubstep' by journalists but as pointed out by Konx-Om-Pax that just means "just normal fucking house music" to anyone else.
Automatic Tasty - In It For The Money EP [Lunar Disko]
Soundstream - Soundsampler Vol. 1 [Soundsampler]
Matt Whitehead - Obsession EP [Rebel Intelligence]
Having a studio partner who works in a record shop is a perfect example of the pleasure/pain principle: You don't miss out on belters like these but you spend more money than you intended when you 'pop in to say hi.'
In fact, this phenomena is so acute that Thomas from Resurface Records actually had to send other people into Rubadub to get things to avoid Aleks bankrupting him. Rubadub: give that man a raise.
EDIT: It's just come to my attention that the Automatic Tasty record came out last year. It's really good though so I'm leaving it in anyway.
Shit Robot - Take Em Up (John Talabot RMX) [DFA]
John Talabot turns Marcus and Nancy's boogie gem into a swirlingly hypnotic house record which adds a real sense of melancholy to what was already a fairly heartbreaking track. Oh yeah, and it's on white vinyl.
Franz Underwear/Naum Gabo - World Unknown Vol. 1 [World Unknown]
From the ashes of dissident comes World Unknown. Similarly mysterious and just as great. All four EPs are instant classics but the debut release is the real keeper.
Johnwaynes - Black & White EP [Groovement]
Cracking house record from Portugal. White Track is the stand-out for me here with it's Chicago groove and off-kilter chant of "Gotta get you back into my life."
Tevo Howard - The Drum Machine Man [THR]
Like Levon Vincent, I wasn't blown away by Tevo Howard's stuff (maybe I just like bucking the trends?) however, every track on this is superb, especially Arena
Dimitri From Stoke on Trent - I Wanna Be You Lobster
Look, it's a great edit of Prince, what more do you want me to say?
I'm sure I missed out lots of great stuff. I can already think of three records (Storm Queen's It Goes On and Mickey Moonlight's Close To Everything being MASSIVE oversights) that probably should have been on here but those were the first ten to pop into my head.
Thursday, 15 December 2011
Thursday, 1 December 2011
If this isn't Wrong, I dunno what is...
http://textsfrombennett.tumblr.com/
Ever read David Sedaris's books and pissed yourself laughing at the tales of his redneck, cracker brother 'The Rooster'? Then this is for you.
Ever read David Sedaris's books and pissed yourself laughing at the tales of his redneck, cracker brother 'The Rooster'? Then this is for you.
Saturday, 19 November 2011
Detachments - Holiday Romance (Wrong Island End of the Pier Remix)
Detachments - Holiday Romance (Wrong Island's End of The Pier Remix) by wrongisland
The Detachments remix Aleks and I did gets an official release this month. It's a big, ducking and weaving synth number which we tried to make sound like a funfair at Butlins or Blackpool Pier.
The full release has remixes by Florian Meindl, Richard Richard, Frenchbloke, Son Of Sam and Aquiline (that last one's my favourite.)
Out this month on This Is Not An Exit from all good download sites.
The Detachments remix Aleks and I did gets an official release this month. It's a big, ducking and weaving synth number which we tried to make sound like a funfair at Butlins or Blackpool Pier.
The full release has remixes by Florian Meindl, Richard Richard, Frenchbloke, Son Of Sam and Aquiline (that last one's my favourite.)
Out this month on This Is Not An Exit from all good download sites.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Xaver Von Treyer DJ mix for The Torino Scale launch
Our good buddy, Xaver's album The Torino Scale is out very soon on the ever pleasant Supersoul Recordings and as a bit of promotion, he's done a little mix for Allez-allez. You can get it here and you should cos it's rather good and I'm not just saying that cos it's got one of our remixes on it.
The album itself is a mighty piece of work which craftily blends italo, house and krautrock into something familiar yet entirely of its own. Very cinematic which is just as well saying as the album has been made in conjuction with Supersoul's creative director, Marek Polewski, so that each track comes hand in hand with its own video which forms part of an art installation event the first of which took place in Berlin last month.
I was sure I had links to the concept drawings and videos but for some reason I can't find them. Each track has video projections cast onto each wall of the room. the concept is pretty fantastic and the photos for the first show look like it worked amazingly well. I hope this comes to the UK at some point soon.
Here is a video with Xaver and Marek talking about some of the concepts.
Finally, the 'missing' track 'Device of the Devil' is coming out on a 111 copy ltd release 12" etched vinyl which just looks AMAZING.
Device Of The Devil (original version) by supersoulrecs
The mock ups of the 12" have the black vinyl etched with a ouija board and the outer sleeve is personalised with cut outs over the initials of each person who purchases a copy. A dream for a total geek like myself.
The album itself is a mighty piece of work which craftily blends italo, house and krautrock into something familiar yet entirely of its own. Very cinematic which is just as well saying as the album has been made in conjuction with Supersoul's creative director, Marek Polewski, so that each track comes hand in hand with its own video which forms part of an art installation event the first of which took place in Berlin last month.
I was sure I had links to the concept drawings and videos but for some reason I can't find them. Each track has video projections cast onto each wall of the room. the concept is pretty fantastic and the photos for the first show look like it worked amazingly well. I hope this comes to the UK at some point soon.
Here is a video with Xaver and Marek talking about some of the concepts.
Finally, the 'missing' track 'Device of the Devil' is coming out on a 111 copy ltd release 12" etched vinyl which just looks AMAZING.
Device Of The Devil (original version) by supersoulrecs
The mock ups of the 12" have the black vinyl etched with a ouija board and the outer sleeve is personalised with cut outs over the initials of each person who purchases a copy. A dream for a total geek like myself.
Tuesday, 4 October 2011
Bin Raking Rules #2 The Runner
click the pic to download
I now own two copies of this Moroder produced gem: one red vinyl, one white. Neither cost me more than £1, thought the red one has a big warp in it. Not enough to make it unplayable but enough to make it a pain to DJ with.
I have heard tales of another less frantic, more soulful version which was never officially released but I haven't actually heard it yet.
I'm afraid I have little else to say as I am horrifically hungover after last night's party in Glasgow.
Bin Raking Rules #1: Summer of Dub
I have recently decided to set myself a wee challenge recently to try not to spend more then £4 on any record I buy for a whole year. I have to put my hands up here and say I only lasted about three weeks until yesterday I bought a copy of a rare boogie record I've had my eye on for a year.
That said though, every other record I've bought in the last two months has been less than £4 with most coming in at a quid or less. (So maybe I get away with the mean being <£4? Mmm...ok, no.)
I'm going to try to rip them all and get them up here as evidence that you don't need to spend loads of money to get old classics and that mp3's aren't any cheaper, though I do concede after moving my entire collection from Glasgow to London that they are easier to move about.
So first up is a sub £1 'take a chance' punt that I picked up a few weeks ago. Record hunting in second hand/charity shops can be a risky business as quite a few don't have listening stations so you often learn to buy by looking at a combination of label, producer, year and title to figure out whether or not something is worth a punt or not. It might be only a quid but there's nothing worse than gambling and going home to find the record you've taken a chance on is total guff.
I'm getting quite good at this after spending some time with the more encyclopaedically knowledgable David Barbarossa and together we've put together a few rules of thumb which I'll post up as and when I remember them.
(One that springs to mind is that any British record made between 1991-1993 that has the word 'hypno' in it is probably worth giving a shot.)
Today's rule is that the word 'dub' combined with a U.K. label circa early 90s is a good sign.
Click the picture for a link to a download.
I can't give you any history on this track, band or label other than Breakthrough only appear to have released four records between 1992-1993. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear from you.
This record also has a pretty good acid track on the A side which I'd've posted up too, only my record players are in storage at the moment.
That said though, every other record I've bought in the last two months has been less than £4 with most coming in at a quid or less. (So maybe I get away with the mean being <£4? Mmm...ok, no.)
I'm going to try to rip them all and get them up here as evidence that you don't need to spend loads of money to get old classics and that mp3's aren't any cheaper, though I do concede after moving my entire collection from Glasgow to London that they are easier to move about.
So first up is a sub £1 'take a chance' punt that I picked up a few weeks ago. Record hunting in second hand/charity shops can be a risky business as quite a few don't have listening stations so you often learn to buy by looking at a combination of label, producer, year and title to figure out whether or not something is worth a punt or not. It might be only a quid but there's nothing worse than gambling and going home to find the record you've taken a chance on is total guff.
I'm getting quite good at this after spending some time with the more encyclopaedically knowledgable David Barbarossa and together we've put together a few rules of thumb which I'll post up as and when I remember them.
(One that springs to mind is that any British record made between 1991-1993 that has the word 'hypno' in it is probably worth giving a shot.)
Today's rule is that the word 'dub' combined with a U.K. label circa early 90s is a good sign.
Click the picture for a link to a download.
I can't give you any history on this track, band or label other than Breakthrough only appear to have released four records between 1992-1993. If anyone knows more, I'd love to hear from you.
This record also has a pretty good acid track on the A side which I'd've posted up too, only my record players are in storage at the moment.
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Wrong Island live from Nice&Sleazy August 2011
The latest installment of our podcast is up for grabs at Radiomagnetic and it's back to the original format of a recording made at the club in Glasgow.
Our fourth birthday is on Saturday and this gives a fair old idea of what you can expect from our little bassment party.
Tracklisting:
Donacha Costello - Cocoa II
Sons & Daughters - Orion (Wrong Island's Messages From The Cosmos)
Community - Red Hearts
Q - The Voice Of Q
Madonna - Get Into The Groove
Dionne - Come Get My Lovin'
Levon Vincent - Man or Mistress
Dimitri From Stoke on Trent - I Wanna Be Your Lobster
Rick Wilhite - Drum Patterns and Memories (Moodymann Mix)
KT Tunstall - Uummannaq Song (Wrong Island's Cold Summer Version)
Silverspin Feat Zöe - Oh Superman!
The Knife - Silent Shout
Daphni - Ye Ye
Photek Feat. Linche - Sleepwalking (Faulty DL Remix)
Our fourth birthday is on Saturday and this gives a fair old idea of what you can expect from our little bassment party.
Tracklisting:
Donacha Costello - Cocoa II
Sons & Daughters - Orion (Wrong Island's Messages From The Cosmos)
Community - Red Hearts
Q - The Voice Of Q
Madonna - Get Into The Groove
Dionne - Come Get My Lovin'
Omar s – Here’s Your Trance, Now Dance!
Panda Bear – Surfers Hymn (Actress Primitive Patterns Mix)
Lone – Rissotowe 4
Bakazou – Risky Disko
Virgo Four – Do You Know Who You Are?
Panda Bear – Surfers Hymn (Actress Primitive Patterns Mix)
Lone – Rissotowe 4
Bakazou – Risky Disko
Virgo Four – Do You Know Who You Are?
KRL – Chase
Romanthony - Hold OnLevon Vincent - Man or Mistress
Dimitri From Stoke on Trent - I Wanna Be Your Lobster
Rick Wilhite - Drum Patterns and Memories (Moodymann Mix)
KT Tunstall - Uummannaq Song (Wrong Island's Cold Summer Version)
Silverspin Feat Zöe - Oh Superman!
The Knife - Silent Shout
Daphni - Ye Ye
Photek Feat. Linche - Sleepwalking (Faulty DL Remix)
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