Monday 29 September 2014

Music - Part 307 - Fofoulah




Fofoulah – Fofoulah (Glitterbeat Records)
LP/CD/DL
22 September 2014



London based afro-electro group release their debut album.  

Maybe it’s early exposure to T.Rex and John Kongos, or the bombardment of The Glitter Band and Sweet.  It could also be Adam And The Ants, but I've always loved percussion, Burundi beats in particular.  The constant, effervescent pounding on skin has always resonated with me.  I put my current enjoyment of African and South American music down to that varied past.

I mention that because Fofoulah, the London based six-piece now give us an eeponymously entitled album with huge slabs of superb drum beats throughout.  Using the beats as a backdrop to added afro, electro and dub, the album is a fascinating cacophony which has to be heard to be believed.

There’s no warning as to what is coming as No Troubles sets the benchmark from the beginning.  Frenetic beats, chants and brash keyboards and saxophone are combined to wonderful effect. Not only are Fofoulah a mukti-cultural group  but their style is also a mish-mash of East and West African styles (quite different to the discerning listener).  When mixed wit poly rhythmic Sabar drums samples and horns it becomes quite formidable.


Even on slow-burners like Make Good, with its hypnotic formation you can’t but be impressed.  Largely instrumental the album does contain some absolute gems when vocalised including the superb Don’t’ Let Your Mind Unravel Safe Travels (featuring Ghostpoet), a quite stunning track where Faithless meets Gil Scott-Heron over an African beat.  There are some fantastic dubs thrown in too and the track is easy and lazy.  Contender for album track of the year without any doubt.

The Clean Up throws in a little funk and jazz with a more traditional twist. The band are unique, and that’s refreshing as they introduce a music which is becoming more and more popular with a modern twist and more westernised sounds.  Fofoulah is a surprise, not only because of the way it approaches mixes of unusual combinations, but also because the fusion actually works.  

9/10

Links
Glitterbeat Records
Fofoulah website
Fofoulah on Twitter


Published on Louder Than War 22/09/14 - here





Friday 26 September 2014

Music - Part 306 - An Interview With Steve Barker Of On The Wire


hiapop Blog makes no excuses for being huge fans on Radio Lancashire’s On The Wire.  As the show celebrates its 30th Anniversary, we bring you several a quick Q&A that was sent Steve Barker's way.

hiapop Blog:  Happy Birthday to you!
Thanks!

1984 – The Smiths released their debut album, Philip Larkin turned down the job of Poet Laureate and John Bond left Burnley Football Club.  Were any of these more important than the birth of On the Wire?
 Not in my mind at least. On the Wire is something of a broadcasting quirk, I don’t think the BBC or any ILR station would start to host such a show. When you look at what’s going out today it’s all nicely packaged into demographics and digestible audio bites – and every seems to be excited all the time.

When you first started with On the Wire, you probably didn’t expect to still be on air thirty years later with the longest running alternative music programme on the BBC.  What were your hopes?
 We didn’t really have any expectations as we were so pleased to be doing what we were doing, 3 hours of freeform radio on a Sunday afternoon. The programme got very popular very quickly across the North-West and nationally/internationally because there wasn’t anything like it elsewhere.

What do you think have been the most exciting changes in music since 1984?
Well I must admit to not waiting for these “changes” to come along like a bus. Most changes aren’t really recognised and when they are then there tends to be a quick absorption into the mainstream like rap and dubstep for instance. What’s more interesting is looking for the work of individuals who don’t play by the rules.

And the most dire?  Reality talent shows must be up there?
None of those count as “music”. One of the worst things to happen is that everyone wants to be a DJ. The number of musicians hosting radio shows is alarming, it’s also a lazy attitude hiring these people rather than looking for genuine talent for radio.

In the early days you had some big names through the doors – Depeche Mode, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, Adrian Sherwood – do any stick in your mind for any reason?
Well, it was early days, but Lee Perry comes to mind most. When we met him at first he was not the fabled trickster that people see these days, he seemed very tired and a little disillusioned. When he met Roger Eagle it was great; Roger was showing him all these Jamaican 7” singles that Lee had produced and Lee had actually forgotten some of them, he had a ballpoint pen ticking some of the labels and writing comments. He stayed at our house and the kids loved him. I am glad loads of people have given him money for his foolery over the past ten years or so.



Your association with Adrian Sherwood and On-U Sound is well documented, how did the friendship come about?
When I presented a show called “Spinoff” we played a lot of dub and reggae and I heard Adrian’s stuff before he started On-U Sound, he had a label called 4DRhythms so I contacted him and we did a phone interview around 1980, later that year I met him and Kishi when they were starting up On-U.

Do you mind being compared to John Peel?  Is it a fair comparison?
I suppose it’s inevitable, although we were very different we were basically just punters who enjoyed a tune.  John was always very supportive to On the Wire though. There could only be one John Peel, as the BBC has so adequately proved - as no show ever replaced his and they keep on running tributes rather than taking chances. Oh! And I didn’t go to public school.

You don’t do Twitter or Facebook, is that you being a bit Old Skool or can you just not be arsed?
I am deeply mistrustful of both, their ethics and impact on daily life, also the adoption of their use, without competition or proper oversight, by many public organisations for adoption as unchallenged in-house communication tools. Where’s the regulation that covers their operations except in the hands of their shareholders. Lots of people I know are withdrawing from either or both. If anyone wants to write to me they can contact me at the BBC and I will reply. It’s open communication. Meanwhile we have our websites and I don’t really have anything else to say to the world, why would we be so presumptuous? Who would any serious person really want to know what Gary Lineker thinks about anything?

Burnley in the Premiership whilst you work in the centre of Blackburn must be fun?
I sneak in and out of town under cover of darkness with my claret and blue bobble hat on.

Do you still have a vinyl copy of the show theme, Bugs On the Wire?
Both a finished copy and a white label! We were supposed to do a follow up called Shocks On the Wire and I had all the tracks, but the distributor went bust.

My everlasting memory of On the Wire will be hearing Fats Comet’s Bop Bop and then discovering On U Sound.  It’s fair to say the two changed my life.  Has there been any record that has had such an impact on you?
Funny you mention “Bop Bop” as I have had a few credits on records over the years but that one is my favourite as I am sandwiched between Afrika Bambaataa and James Brown! I can’t recall anything specific that provoked an epiphany except maybe when I was 14 buying a deleted copy of Robert Johnson’s “King  of the Delta Blues Singers” for an old style pound at Accrington’s Bandbox Records, sadly no longer with us, it seemed so exotic and distant back then; also a few years later hearing Terry Riley’s “Rainbow in Curved Air” for the first time altered the possibilities of music for me.



Do you think Clitheroe has ever recovered from 2,500 people descending on the town to watch The Fall play live at the Castle?
That was a peculiar day – and only one policeman. We recently found the original quarter inch tapes for that gig. I quite regularly got asked for them but since I found them no one asks anymore. It’s like when the original interview I did with Jimi Hendrix in January 1967 was published in full a while ago everyone wanted the cassette tapes.

The On the Wire Xmas party at The Ritz in Manchester attracted Gary Clail, 808 State and Neneh Cherry amongst others.  Were they all invited?
Each and every one, along with Mark Stewart, Adrian Sherwood, Little Annie and A Guy Called Gerald. We do have the master tapes for this gig! I recall Neneh was 8 months pregnant and left the Bomb the Bass gig across town to come and close the show at the Ritz, she was huge in more ways than one!

Fenny, Jim, Pete Haig and Andy Holmes are a good team.  Could you have done it without them?  You can be honest, they’ll never know.
 Also we had Mikey Martin and Jethro (Culf) Binks as previous engineers to Jim. We have a very strong and loyal team over the years

Where is home?  Brierfield, Beijing or St Annes?
Back from China for three years now so it’s the West Coast for me!

I’m coming for a meal, what are you cooking?
You’d be waiting a long time, not cooked seriously for years. I blame my wife Jan who is an excellent cook.

What was the last gig you went to?
The Abyssinians at Manchester Band on the Wall.

And the first?
Probably a gig at the old Nelson Imperial, maybe the Animals or Bo Diddley or David John and the Mood from Preston. Though I did see the Beatles in Blackpool at either the ABC or Odeon, I forget. Then I also saw the Big Three at a youth club in Accrington – maybe that was it.

The show has been under threat of being cut three times.  Are you here to stay now?
I would not count on it.

What happens when you want to retire?  Can I take over?
You can scramble over my body when I fall.

On behalf of fans and listeners of On the Wire all over the World, have a Happy Birthday.  And thank you.
You’re welcome.






Published on Louder Than War 21/09/14 - here 


Music - Part 305 - Snippet


Snippet – The Sunshine EP (Remixed) (Folkwit Records)
Free DL
29 September 2014


Perfect popster Johnno returns as Snippet with a remixed version of his Sunshine EP.  

When I’ve expressed that my five year old daughter loves We Luv The Sunshine, it’s a huge compliment.  Children have no preconceptions about music, they don’t care about haircuts and low-cut jeans, and they know what they like.  In the same way that she wriggled and shook to Nine Inch Nails at eighteen months, and she bopped her head to La Roux as a three year old, so she now says “Daddy, play the sunshine song”.

Maybe it’s the catchy chorus of the equally addictive whistle, maybe it’s the thought of the big yellow ball in the sky coming out once more, who knows?  Maybe we never will know, or maybe it’s just the art and craft of one of those incredibly gifted people that write pop songs so perfect that it’s almost a crime.  Johnno Casson is one such person.

Brought up on a diet of classic pop songs from the early 80s, believe me I know one when I hear one.  In Johnno’s case it’s far more than one.

The Sunshine EP from earlier this year proved what an amazing talent he is. Here the six tracks are remixed and given another angle.  Misplaced Youth remixed by long-time producer/arranger pal of Casson, Wim Oudijk is one such beast.  More several new angles than just one. Violins are added to create a neo-jazz, sometimes Bond theme, Burundi beaten extravaganza which takes the track to another level.


Instrumentals fLIP (remixed by Johnno’s alter ego Old Tramp) and This Way Up are spiced up with added effects and crunching percussion.  Lead track We Luv The Sunshine has a superb snare drum effect which almost cuts off before the noise is out, it’s often simpler than the original showing that a great song will always shine through.  That whistle is SO addictive.

Run For Your Life is haunting and provoking.  A lovely semi-ambient beginning breaking into a base lead meander with gorgeous keys and echoing voices.  Highlight of the EP is Can I Luv You remixed by Cumbria’s finest, mylittlebrother where the piano is brought right up to the fore with some subtle handclaps and maybe even your school favourite, the triangle!

The fantastic British Summer continues with this remixed venture.  Time to hang your washing out on the line again!

9/10

Links
Folkwit Records
Snippet website
Snippet on Twitter
The Sunshine EP review
Snippet on hiapop Blog
Old Tramp on hiapop Blog
mylittlebrother on hiapop Blog


Published on Louder Than War 20/09/14 - here











Music - Part 304 - Steve Barker Top 10 Albums

When asked for a list of his Top 10 albums, On The Wire’s Steve Barker simply replied “that’s tough”. After deliberating over a ‘random Top 10’, in his true eclectic style Steve plumped for a 60s vinyl top ten “because I found it difficult to do anything else!”

Here, is hiapop Blogs final contribution to the On The Wire 30th Anniversary articles. Happy Birthday and long may the show continue!

Bo Diddley - Have Guitar, Will Travel - Checker 1960

The Mighty Bo poses on the album cover astride a scooter with his custom built square 'geetar’ slung around his neck. This is the one that contains the awesome "Mumbling Guitar".



Bert Jansch - Jack Orion - Transatlantic 1966

Bert became suddenly fashionable when he was old but in the mid-sixties he was hard-core and supercool. This album, his third, was the
first to feature traditional folk songs but the arrangements were updated and Bert's playing revolutionary.



John Fahey - The Transfiguration of Blind Joe Death - Transatlantic 1968

This is the one that has "Death of the Clayton Peacock" one of Fahey's most sublime slide pieces. The album is a link between his old folk blues playing and the newer more radical styles he was developing.



Bob Dylan - Highway 61 Revisited - Columbia 1965

Worth it for the cover alone, the coolest rock star ever changing the face of popular music for all time.



Velvet Underground - White Light White Heat - Verve 1969

A savage assault. Motown was popular at the time amongst young people.



Thelonius Monk - Solo Monk - Columbia 1965

Mind-boggling genius strides the gap between jazz and the American standard with playing that has never been surpassed.



Terry Riley - Rainbow in Curved Air - Columbia Masterworks 1968

This is the soundtrack for cruising an empty Californian highway under a pure crystal blue winter sky.



John Coltrane - A Love Supreme - Impulse 1965

Coltrane and his peerless quartet move seamlessly from jazz to a new form of transcendental music.



Miles Davis - Bitches Brew - Columbia 1970

Releases in 1970 but recorded in 1969 Miles brings funk to the masses, the beginning of his rejection by the jazz mafia.



Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band - Trout Mask Replica - Straight 1969

If you still need to be convinced by this truly breath-taking set of work then drop the needle on "Pachuco Cadaver" for the most joyful piece of music ever.




Links
On The Wire blog
On The Wire on hiapop Blog


Published on Louder Than War 20/09/14 - here



Music - Part 303 - Feral Five


Feral Five – 3D (Primitive Light Recordings)
Vinyl/DL
26 September 2014


Post-punk electro dance duo release their new single.  

Forgive me for harping on about Feral Five.  For saying how exciting they are.  For telling everyone how they combine both punk attitude and dance freedom.  For harping on about how they’re the next big thing.  I have a feeling.

The new single, 3D is just like the rest.  No, it doesn’t sound the same, it’s brilliant.  From the subtle percussive intro to the heightened chorus and fabulous guitars it rises and rises to a climatic ending of, you’ve guessed it 3D printers.

You see, Feral Five have a vision.  A vision that sees humans replicating humans via a 3D printer.  It’s actually not that wild a prediction as body parts are already being made that way – liver tissue, eye socket and joints – so why not write a song about it?

Hot on the heels of this years Strung Out single, and last year’s superb Skin EP, 3D is full of raw guitar skims courtesy of Drew and holds your attention from the start.  Straight into the chorus with some of the sexiest vocals that Kat has given us yet, the track is underpinned by the characteristic throbbing electro bassline and if you listen very carefully, the printer.  Drums are clear and clinical and with added synth effects it a recipe for sure success.


A second version of 3D in the form of the Ether Mix continues the infectious beats with the continuous bass backed out in favour of a more dance orientated one.  The sae catchiness but with added feral disco.  Kat’s vocals are duplicated over themselves adding a complexity and an almost dub effect at times.  It’s of the best earworms you’ll hear for a while.

With third track, Invisible the pace is significantly slowed down.  A near trip-hop journey with a piano section not unlike Soft Cell’s Bedsitter (surely an influence?), it weaves its way into your subconscious with stark subtlety. 

Feral Five are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.    

9/10

Links
Feral Five website
Feral Five on Twitter
Feral Five on hiapop Blog

Published on Louder Than War 20/09/14 - here





Wednesday 24 September 2014

Music - Part 302 - An Interview With Feral Five



Post-punk, electro disco duo Feral Five are about to release their new single 3D amidst a hurricane of media interest.  Since hiapop Blog praised their debut single, Skin they’ve gone from strength to strength and are finally getting onto mainstream playlists.

Our man (and fan) Paul Scott-Bates had a chat with Kat and Drew Five.


Louder Than War: Why Feral Five?

Kat: Because we're a snarling space gang. Of two. Or as Steve Lamacq put it "Enid Blyton's worst nightmare".

It seems to have been a great eighteen months for you.  hiapop Blog loved Skin and helped debut the video for Strung Out on Louder Than War, and 3D has received lots of publicity.  Has is surpassed all expectations?

We've had a crazy eighteen months, and have been overwhelmed by all the support – from Louder Than War, recently from BBC6 Music, and the US tech press calling our new track "3D" an anthem. As a DIY band that early support from Louder Than War, hiapop Blog and other bloggers and DJs, was just brilliant, and we got played across the world.

Drew: Crowdsourcing the Skin video clips through Vine was a blast, and it was great that LTW showcased Strung Out.

You seem to like your science-fiction and science fact.

Kat: As probing time and space explorers our mission is to look into the future. There's more to music than love songs, though we have a few of those as well.

Drew: 3D is essentially all about printing 3D human beings from a 3D printer. Sounds like science fiction but prosthetics and even vertebrae are being printed now. We’re imagining a future where whole people will be scanned and reprinted, not cloned, printed. The immediacy of being able to produce humans to order, on ubiquitous printing tech, is what the song is about, and who is at the controls. The ethics of it all.

Despite our dystopian lyrics, we do have hope for humanity, you could say we create cautionary tales. The best science fiction explores stories relevant to the human condition. So yeah, we like ethical science and smart science fiction.

Kat: And we pay respects to the sometimes overlooked greats, like Rosalind Franklin.

What do you think of Peter Capaldi as Dr Who?

Drew: Capaldi’s a great actor for sure and Doctor Who is such an iconic figure. “Modern art!” was his first ever line in Doctor Who when he played the Roman Caecilius in a David Tenant episode. A few people may have Malcolm Tucker in their minds every time they watch him: “we’ve f@cking, time travelled”. No diss to Peter and we wish him well, but we’d love to see a spin-off of what went down with the John Hurt Doctor.

Kat: And we want to remix the Dr Who theme, and the pictures. Don’t dig that new title sequence at all.



Your musical tastes are very varied. Does that make you more feral?

Kat: For sure. We have our own in-band soundclashes and nothing is out of bounds. Disco and distortion pedals? Bring it on. That’s our sound.

Drew: Our musical tastes are certainly where some of the wild things are! But we are quite house trained! The best thing about some of the artists we love is that they’re open to exploring music. For us making and playing music is about having the courage to get out into the wild, survive the experience and then report back, artistically, let you know what we found out in a sometimes arty, sometimes noisy way.

Twitter or Facebook?

Drew:  Antisocial media? We like meeting real people but sometimes social media allows conversations to be had that wouldn’t otherwise happen. So yeah, Twitter, definitely.

Kat: We've made so many friends, got radio play, met video directors and more.

You’ve spent quite some time in the USA lately.  Business or pleasure?

Drew: Sort of business. We’re involved with a few things outside the band but still connected to art, music and technology.

You donated Skin to the Ralph’s Life charity cd for mental illness and performed at the launch gig in Camden.  How did you find the experience?

Ralph is a brilliant blogger and we owe him a big sack of bones. It was a privilege to be asked to donate a track to the CD especially because we really dig Re:Think and totally support what the Ralph’s Life project is about. A twitter community built up around the crowd funding campaign, the launch gig was full of great acts, real fun to play, and Clem Burke (Blondie’s drummer) came down to check it out. Buy the CD people – 40 ace indie tracks.


Who’s the most famous person in your phonebook?

Drew: As Nick Drake sang: “fame is but a fruit tree..” you know the rest.

Kat: We’ve been really fortunate to get to know people who have inspired us like Keith Levene, so he’s probably up there. But Drew knows the guy that taught Albert Lee to play guitar!

Skin was remixed in several versions by The Woodentops’ Rolo McGinty who then went on to release possibly their finest album.  How did you meet him and what was he like to work with.

Kat: Rolo’s ace to work with, and so creative. Just when we thought he'd made the perfect remix, he'd come up with another one. The Woodentops’ ace keyboard player Aine O'Keeffe used to play with me in a garage punk grrrl band and Rolo’s been a great support from our early days. We were dead chuffed to support them at Dingwalls, and then see them on such top form at their album launch.


I’m coming for a meal, what are you making?

Drew: We’ll remix a gourmet platter for you. How does that sound?

Kat: And there’ll be overproof Bounty rum from Fiji to wash it down with.

Are there any new artists that excite you?

Kat: How long have you got? There are a lot of emerging artists that we’re really into. Drew’s got a thing for the music of Haiku Salut who he saw at the Green Man last year. He’s also into Icelandic stuff like Tilbury and we think Daniel Avery has done some cool stuff recently. We’re totally into Deux Furieuses who are noisy and exciting, also Saint Agnes, She Makes War, The Hysterical Injury, Dana Jade, The Pearl Harts. Wrangler are amazing, they’re emerging but have history.  Hello Cabaret Voltaire Mal! Slaves probably count as emerged, but are brilliant live, along with Fat White Family. We just need someone to let us programme our own new blood festival.

You’re quite in demand as remixers in your own right.  Whose tracks would you like to get your hands on?

Kylie without a doubt. (laughs). But we’d love to remix some Tilbury or bring some Feralness to Ellen Alien’s EDM stuff. And Savages.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed that you’re big supporters of little bloggers, do they really have a part to play?

Absolutely. The brilliant thing is they keep it real. There’s no vested interest. Passionate and committed, they judge you on your tunes - it doesn't get better than that. We support people who have an authentic voice and use it. That’s what we’re about.

You will be launching the vinyl version of the new single at a 3D printing party on London on 17th September.  What’s that all about?

We’re DJ-ing and 3D printing at a party at the East London Design Store, that celebrates London Design Festival. Really looking forward to that, especially as we are fusing art and music in the release - we’ve been working with tribal pop artist Camille Walala.

Are there any plans to take the Feral Five sound on tour?

Kat:  We got ourselves out of the studio to roadtest our songs pretty early on thanks to Red Vomit!, and get blooded in Feral live-ness.

Drew:  It was a great proving ground and we definitely have enough material for two albums, but we haven’t quite completed our first yet. So recording’s the priority. We haven’t quite got the backing to fund a big tour right now but we’ve got a few things coming up. Keep listening. We’ll definitely let you know.

What does the rest of the year hold and where will you be spending Xmas?

We’re going to be busy writing new material and doing a handful of events. We’re on a couple of interesting compilation CDs that are coming out. All hail the compilation we say. As for Xmas Day, we'll probably be playing warped carols on some new tech that came in our stocking, huddling around an open fire roasting something, and listening to Nat King Cole in our Feral onesies. Kat wants to write a ‘broken spirit of Xmas’ tune. We’ll see.











Music - Part 301 - Kobadelta



Kobadelta – Remain Distracted EP
CD/DL
26 September 2014


Geordie five piece release their new EP. 

It’s no real winder that Kobadelta have already rubbed metaphorical shoulder with the likes of Shaun Ryder and Peter Hook this year.  They’re destined for big things.

The Stockton Weekender will have no doubt served as a great platform for the group to perform their music to a large audience and it’s one that will only get bigger.  Their brand of Indie, psychedelia, blues and heavy rock is, or at least sounds unique.

The rambling vocals of Dom Noble fit perfectly with the meandering guitars and throbbing bass over often manic drums as they exude some rather complicated if not sometimes risqué lyrics.  Opener, Siam won’t get much radio airplay for instance (unless there are some deaf programmers around – let’s hope so), but in some way that’s no big deal as there are another three crackers to pick from.  The lead track does contains an infectious hook and strap-line and will ensure that at least your feet are tapping.  It does in less than three minutes what many tracks fail to do in twice the time.

Repetition provides that curious blend of punk and metal.  Two opposing forces which Kobadelta somehow manage to marry together in harmony.  A wonderful middle section where guitars are allowed to freely weep over a mystically appropriate interlude. 


The group are often compared to The Doors.  It’s something that they don’t intend, but it’ quite a compliment.  They Can’t Hurt Me has more than a nod in the direction of Morrison’s men as its psychedelic feel accompanied by subtle keyboards develop into marvellous rolling drums on occasion. 

Closing with The Heretic, a blues-psych affair with a fantastic distorted bass swaggers from start to finish with its arse showing proudly out of its worn-out, ripped jeans like a band that was born to make music as if their lives depended on it.

Kobadelta are a breath of fresh air of that there is no doubt.  Equally, they’ve probably only just started on their quest for widespread approval.  Keep your ears open, they’ll be inside them soon.

9/10


Links
Kobadelta on Bandcamp
Kobadelta on Twitter


Published on Louder Than War 16/09/14 - here





Music - Part 300 - Steve Barker 'The A To D Mix'


Radio Lancashire’s On The Wire hosted by Steve Barker is 30 years old this month.  Steve has very kindly put a special hour-long Louder Than War playlist together which can be played below, together with some exclusive comments on each of the tracks.




DJ Sandrinho – Berimbau
Rio Baile Funk master from the favela do Borel at work on string driven thing back in 2007.


DJ Clap Pina – Unakunukulpan
Also known as Clap Freckles, a DJ producer from Monterrey Nuevo Leon in Mexico, essential mutant digi cumbia for the mix from 2011.


DJ Peligro - Dame duro
A completely mental hi-jack of the Bam Bam riddim from 2009.


Diggory Kenrick & Tapes - Pipe cleaner
Reggae flutes and crazed East End digi mix out of Leipzig’s Jahtari label.


Arthur Russell - Lucky cloud
You can never get enough Arthur.

Amanar - Tenere (El Mahdy Jnr remix)
Sahel Sounds rules the outer edges of African music, twisted dubmeister E Mahdy gets on the mix straight outta Turkey, he dropped the stunning “Spirit of Fucked Up Places” on Portland’s Boomarm Nation.

Bab Lee - Soul les Cocotiers
Ramps up any dance.

Big Ass Truck - Five O'Clock Shadow
Defunct and lost genius mutant funksters from Memphis.

Doctor Ross - The Boogie Disease
It’s not only John Lee Hooker who does mad boogie.

Dub Specialist – Lusaka
Studio One classic dub by its in house rhythm engine, version to Alton Ellis’ “Mad Mad”

Dylan Carlson - Gold 1
Transcendent solo electric guitar reaches the heights.

The Bug – Void
Kevin Martin on the cool side of bi polar.

Delia Derbyshire - Liquid energy
Did the BBC recognise the genius working away in the cellar?

Burial - In McDonalds
We have all been there.

Chang Loo - Sixteen tons
Cool Hong Kong r’n’b styled reading of the old Tennessee Ernie Ford standard.

Chilly Gonzales – Kenaston
Who though tunes like this could be written anymore?

Clams Casino - Unchain me (Lil B)
Mixtape heaven with a short stay from the ultra-productive MC.

Autre Ne Veut - Ego free sex free
Glistening modern r’n’b not heard much on radio for some reason.

Bass Clef - Set adrift on memory abyss
One of the most challenging new artists at work in the UK demonstrates why.


Links
On The Wire blog


Piublished on Louder Than War 16/09/14 - here