The Splendid, The Strange & The Sorry

Some thoughts from the Diesel U Music Radio launch / Bumblebeez party last Thursday @ The Amersham Arms wot I was invited to

The Splendid

Bumblebeez live are definitely worth catching (I got to see twice) their ramshackle sounding mix of classic old skool electro and hip-hop sounds, early house bleeps and beats and fuzzy garage rock (© lecool) sounds as heart warming on their current output as when I heard their White Printz EP all those years ago (Though why they were restricted to three tracks during the Diesel bit is strange)

All round nice girl and Modular bigwig Abi reaching into her handbag and placing a copy of the new Bmblbz album in my hands as I passed her on the way for cigarette.

Danny C90 informing me they have joined the Black Affair fold and will be embarking on tour soon AND giving me copy of C90s Soft Cell remix.

The Free Drink obviously

The Strange

Being introduced to ubiquitous tranvestite DJ/shleb Jodie Harsh who complemented me on my hair and proclaimed me to be very sexy…. I feel my life is now complete

The Sorry

Fact that the promise of Bumblebeez live, several bigtimmy DJs (Radioclit, Nadia Ksaiba, Joe Hot Chip) and LOTS of free drinks couldn’t entice more of the burgeoning London Media scene to New Cross, and those that did come did not stay for a longer live performance from the Bumblebeez and a live set from Goldielocks.

Keeping things Modular related is a remix of Ladyhawke’s new single Paris Is Burning by Chicken Lips who have been doing the dubbed out disco rework thing for long time now.

For one reason or another Ladyhawke hasn’t really impressed me a great deal, ideally she ticks all the right boxes – musically she is on Modular and sounds a bit like Stevie Nicks and she’s quite pleasant on the eye (see above) but still this scribe remains a bit unconvinced – perhaps if I had caught one of her many performances in London town earlier this year opinion would have changed.

Regardless, of her last single Back Of The Van, the Mock & Toof remix was my favourite and this Chicken Lips remix surpasses the Alex Gopher effort that was all over the blogs recently

Ladyhawke – Paris Is Burning (Chicken Lips Zeegfungk Beatdown)

A further smattering of discodust can be found in the shape of the new releases on D*I*R*T*Y – the first, Trembler, by Portuguese duo Photonz being a pyschedelic excursion into kraut-techno and includes a remix by Discodeine (Pilooski & Pentile for those not paying attention) which beefs up the techno drums somewhat and adds some bleeps but thankfully doesn’t touch the playing with a elastic band whilst stuck in a k hole sound of the original

Photonz – Trembler (Discodeine Remix)

This excellent release should be out at some point this week on strictly limited vinyl as per usual through DISCOGRAPH (1000 copies for all good record stores worldwide) and is followed in mid June by the second Discodeine EP which is notable for at least three reasons

Uno: Danish top lad Tomboy has provided a top lad remix of lead track Joystick

Dos: Simian Mobile Disco have included the original version of Joystick on their forthcoming Fabriclive mix cd.

Tres: B side Homo Compatible is on some alone in the dark disco bloodbath tip reminiscent of Carpenter and Argento soundtracks

Discodeine – Joystick (Tomboy Remix)

Deflated by Technology

I’ve never been a fan of Aphex Twin (he has enough already) but you’d have to be a philistine not to enjoy the genius of Windowlicker – here friend of the Fringe Mac 3000 cuts up vocal elements from the splendid video with the original track.

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker (Mac 3000 Remix)

The current wave of joy that The Whitest Boy Alive are bringing to lots of peoples lives at the moment made me recall how nice Remind Me, Erlend Oye’s vocal contribution to the coffee table favourite that is the  first Royksopp album was – people who enjoy some rowdy club sounds might like this remix of the track by D Lake which is short but sweet.

Royksopp – Remind Me (D Lake Remix)

Given how much Lykke Li‘s album has made me smile over the last few months it’s a bit shocking that there hasn’t been more word love for her on these here pages – apart from some worrying flamenco guitar moments Youth Novels is a joy to behold.

She is playing in London early next month and I will be at her Cargo gig the night before I fly out to New York. The Little Bit EP has just been released on the other side of the Atlantic and from it is this remix of Everyone But Me by Norwegian cosmic duster Diskjokke

Lykke Li – Everyone But Me (Diskjokke Remix)

Aussie electro kids Calling In Sick just sent through their latest remix effort – taking on the recent dancefloor favourite Disco Sirens by Midfield General and coming up with something the Bag Raiders would be proud of – all crunching synths and over the top 80s riffs.

Midfield General – Disco Sirens (Calling In Sick Remix)

There are already some pretty good remixes of this (Chicken Lips version being my favourite) but this would definitely work in the right club.

photo from Last Nights Party

Make Out, Fall Out, Make Up

People tell me I had a good time at the Warm / Lasermagnetic Chromatics showcase on Brick Lane last month though my memory of the night goes a bit shonky after taking a less than graceful tumble down the grimey stairs of Cafe 1001 – this is what several shots of tequila in quick succession to start the evening off does to you. Anyway, not ones to rest on their laurels, Lasermagnetic are returning to the venue favoured by East London’s Italian population this Bank Holiday Sunday with a lineup that is pretty special.

Once again, stepping away from the electrohouse sound that hangs around Whoreditch and Sick Lane like the smell of bad salt beef, the Lasermagnetic peeps have some live musics in the shape of Padded Cell and Zombie Zombie. And some splendid DJ support from Sir Andrew Of Weatherall, Trevor Well Jackson, Andy Binary Chaffinch from Dissident and his collection of pricey and enviromentalist worrying one sided vinyls and the Tropical Hotdog crew.

Padded Cell have a new LP out (their first strangely cos they’ve been round for what you call donkey years) called Night Must Fall on the splendid DC Recordings imprint and is full of lovely punk funk swagger – to get a taste go here for free download of track Faces of the Forest and cop the album from Phonica – it’s worth noting that the vinyl edition has extended versions of the songs for the true DJs

Zombie Zombie are a band I was meant to see at Adventures Close To Home the other week (Sorry Choaf) but after taking part in some sound recording with Matthew Herbert I opted to go to the International Attractive Bloggers Convention at the Amersham Arms instead where my bowling sucks tshirt almost offended a young Bowie fan and I indulged in a discussion on label politics with a drunken NYPCer

Anyway I am going to see them at White Heat on Tuesday (Cleft Palettes are also on the bill) and if you are a Londoner you should too. To make up for missing them at ACTH I will also be at Cafe 1001 on Sunday.

Here is the Joakim remix of Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free which like all Joakim remixes jostles for attention whenever my brain starts pondering which remixes are my favourites. It’s not neccessarily new in any way or shape but the obsession with newness is starting to wane round here

Zombie Zombie – Driving This Road Until Death Sets You Free (Joakim Remix)

My Friend Barbie

Stones Throw Recordings will always have a special place in the lower left ventricle of my heart due mainly to thejoyful helium raps of the first Quasimoto album which acted as no small part of the soundtrack to my bluffing through a Intellectual History degree down in Brighton.

Since my head was immersed in more lysergic areas of repetitive kick drums and girls with potty mouths and nice hair, the burgeoning back catalogue of Peanut Butter Wolf and company has more or less passed me by like a bus in the morning full of miserable commuters.

The relative clamour surrounding the amusingly named James Pants did bring the label back to my attention though. Ed Banger might have become somewhat played out to these ears but Busy P’s beard uttering the words “The Big Thing to watch in 2008” about a Stones Throw artist? A Trak and Dj Mehdi to provide forthcoming remixes?

Undoutbtedly you will have read plenty about James Pants already on blogs and more professionally run musical outlets where people get paid for words – the Slutty Fringe editorial wanted to step back and take in Welcome, the debut album from Pants fully before writing any silliness.

After repeat listens over the past few week on the saunter around London, Welcome has left a welcome impression. Perhaps as a side effect of over exposure to that area of lysergic repetitiveness, the off beat collection of tracks that touch on 80s Soul, Electro Boogie, Early Raps and Post Punk Funk Disco Pogo For Punks In Pumps seem like the perfect soundtrack for my June visit to New York.

Whilst some of the shorter tracks appear to be ideas not quite fully thought out, the tracks that manage to sprint past three minutes are heavy. The lo-fi rolling boombap drums of Dragonslayer combine excellently with the new tennis ball of a fuzzy bassline. Recent single We’re Through sounds like Noze if they had grown up in and around Williamsburg. Crystal Lite has been doused liberally in the love juice of 80s cod piece icon Cameo. Fingers on The Knife has some crisp crisp drums and a bassline worthy of Liquid Liquid.

You can listen to the album in it’s entirety on the Pants myspace – And look here are some James Pants remixes! Too $hort and Howard Johnson to be exact

Too $hort – I Ain’t Trippin (James Pants Ruff Remix)

Howard Johnson – Say You Wanna (Pants Edit)

As bonus here is a b side from the We’re Through single called Rockin which is on some lovely 80s Bronx Down Boogaloo tip

James Pants – Rockin

*photo by Elena Gallen*

Buddy Peace – Wolf Diesel Mountain Mix (2600 Rec)

When I got hold of Home Entertainment, the debut release from boutique label 2600 Recordings, last year my initial reservations about a compilation of leftfield hiphop oddities were swiftly left behind and it featured in the Slutty Fringe Class of 2007.

So I was quite excited to see what they came up with next. Excitement levels cranked up a notch or two when word came through that Buddy Peace was in the lab concocting a very special mix called Wolf Diesel Mountain.

Mr Peace has been a longtime mixtape specialist who first cropped up on the Slutty Fringe radar back in the days of yore when it was not called the Slutty Fringe radar with some lovingly put together, both sonically and aesthetically, mixes with the artist formerly known as Zilla (who now records under King Cannibal and has album deal with Ninjatune) weaving together hiphop, techno, electronica, spoken word and anything else they fancied.

The Buddy Peace Obituary Medicine mix for Rhythm Incursions was featured on these here pages last year and transpires was a sneak peek whereWolf Diesel Mountain was going. The mix dropped through the Slutty Fringe letterbox a few weeks back with a tracklist the size of a obese wooly mammoth.

Spread over a 100 songs and using technology including a MPC, a 303, CDJs and a Egg Shaker it sees Battles, Liars, Tom Waits, Beck and Jose Gonzales diced together with Clipse, MF Doom, Edan, Jay Dee and Mobb Deep and radically reimagined. As the press release says This is a mix of broken hearts and block parties, unfaithful guitars and dusty drums. Special mention should go to the Liars/Edan and Jose Gonzales/MF Doom dustups.

Been meaning to write something about this mix since like the day after it was recieved, but as usual having fun gets in the way and it’s only now that when all alcoholic endeavours are being avoided for a week that words can be put out there – now when the mix can be bought as of Monday just gone.

By way of coaxing you the public into wrapping your ears around it here is a taster mix that Buddy Peace did which re-edits sections of the original mix and throws in a few new bits.

Buddy Peace – Antler God Minimix

Shit can be copped at Boomkat in the UKs and Access HipHop in the USA

As a Buddy Peace bonus here is a splendid mix from the 2003 Archives called Good Grief which still sounds so fucken good these days (it soundtracked the saunter in the sun through South London referred to as the walk home this very evening)

Buddy Peace – Good Grief Mixtape

Lovely chap that he is, Buddy was adamant that anyone who is digging this or wants to know more should show no hesitation to giving him a shout on myspace – So if this is you don’t be shy!

Everybody Loves A Hot Toddy

Thems that know have been eagerly awaiting the release of Sound Tape Killin, the new track from Sheffield’s rising dancehall/come/fidget don Toddla T. Happiness will be brought to their face come Monday when it drops in record shops

The lovely peoples at 1965 Records were kind enough to drop some mp3 tasters of Sound Tape Killin and the remixes from big bassline noise boi’s, Detboi and Nastee Boi, for Slutty Fringe readers ahead of the release. Lovin the use of the Percolator sample on Detboi’s re/rub inparticular.

Enjoy and be sure to pick up the vinyl first tingting on Monday from Phonica or Piccadilly.

Toddla T – Sound Tape Killin

Toddla T – Sound Tape Killin (Detboi Remix)

Toddla T – Sound Tape Killin (Nastee Boi Remix)

Sheffield United Bonus: Check out Duckbeats website to hear a rowdy fresh remix him and Toddla T just did of the new Tricky single Council Estate.

Triple Chrome Dipped

I am big on Agyness Deyn (maybe not so big that her fledgling musical career will get any more than the cursorary mention given here) but any musical correspondence forwarded that contains the magic words will certainly pique my fancy.

Step forward then Noir Boys Club who named a track after the honey from Hull – this shit was downloaded before I even read who is behind it – only the joint musical minds of Lillica Libertine and Glamour Soundsystem who as Noir Boys Club form one branch of a very fashionmedia savvy tree called Style Noir.

The track Agyness Deyn is from the forthcoming EP “Style Noir presents:NBC” and is on some hefty lysergic electrohouse tip – they also sent through a splendid remix of that Wiley track wot is everywhere right nows and a remix of new Universal signing Marvin but that’s not getting posted cos the Universal legal time are like the Mafia

Noir Boys Club – Agyness Deyn

Wiley – Wearin My Rolex (Noir Boys Club Remix)

London peeps might wanna go down Hoxton on the 11th May to the Bar and Kitchen with dj’s Tapedeck, Lillica Libertine and Thick as Thieves as well as live performances from The Real Heat and Glamour Soundsystem and a one off live show by Noir Boys Club.

To My MF Clubheadz

Sportsday Megaphone is not only a talented musician but also a thoroughly decent chap – this is qualified by the fact he offered me one of his vegetable samosas when we bumped into each other at Standon Calling last year.

Despite the fact he has signed to Sunday Best and has an eagerly awaited album due to drop in the summer and will be super famous and spend his time answering silly questions posed by Alexa Chung, hopefully he would still offer tasty Indian sundries to hungry Slutty Fringe scribes at music festivals.

In order to keep on his good side here is taster of Sportsday Megaphone forthcoming single LA whose lyrical content might upset Tom Cruise and drops on seven inches of vinyl on June 16th backed with the excellent Young Lust which Big Stereo posted whilst I was sauntering home.

Sportsday Megaphone – LA

Watch out for the album So Many Colours / So Little Time dropping on Sunday Best in August with a whole bunch of remixes to from the likes of lysrgic Nic Nell, South Central, Slagsmålsklubben and Wax Stag.

People who like Sportsday Megaphone and like going out in Camden should get their fashion on and head down to the all new Proud Galleries on Saturday as he is playing live at Be alongside Micachu and Envelopes with shiny discoball electro dj stuff from Punks Jump Up

It’s Not Called Hackers……

Words haven’t appeared on here describing Miss Odd Kidd‘s naughty music for at least a minute too long – not for any particular reason just because there has been so much other music that has slapped us in the face and demanded our attention.

(though if this blog was actually centred on interesting hair then words of appreciation would definitely be in front of your eyes regarding the fine fringe Miss Odd Kidd was sporting on Friday evening)

However there has been more than a certain amount of badgering directed at rising talent Plimsouls ever since he disclosed he was remixing the Black Affair produced Sperm Donor – with the results being a somewhat lovely piece of electropop pie.

Finally after ages (partly down to a forgotten download link) Slutty Fringe has been given the lime green light to wrap it in silly words and give it a punt in the general direction of the internet.

Miss Odd Kidd – Sperm Donor (Plimsouls Remix)

A Plimsouls sounding bonus is now provided in the form of his remix of Surprise! by yet another talented young Parisian called Janedge which has just surfaced as the fourth release by Boule a facettes

Janedge – Surprise! (Plimsouls Remix)

You can cop the rest of Janedge’s EP at the Bouleafacettes blog and check Plimsouls myspace for his massive new remix of 2 Doors Down by Mystery jets.

**photo by Solen**

Niceup! The Dance!

Ever since the first JSt*ar release dropped several years ago, cheeky reggae/pop/rap mashups have always found their way into the Slutty Fringe DJ set at some point throughout the night (Curses are still uttered regarding the drunken evening at The Asylum when the No Diggity seven inch was misplaced)

If you don’t know about Heatwave refixes then you need your head seeing too, and of late a new name to the reggae blend game has emerged in the shape of the Niceup! collective.

The first Niceup release was the bomb diggy Bigger Than Jamrock and have been followed with soundclashes of Biggie, Nas and Dizzie. Now they have turned their hands to The Gossip. Thanks mostly to Skins and unimaginative DJs I want to do bad things everytime I hear the ubiquitous Standing In The Way Of Control (even more so the Soulwax remix) So I was dubious about hearing this re/version but it drags the song back from the edge of overkill and makes for a nice summer rump shaker.

Niceup! – Skankin In The Way Of Control

This seven inch can be found in all good vinyl emporiums and comes backed with student disco favourite I Wish by Skee Lo over some skanking Black Grass beats – good party tackle all round!

Meaty Focker

There is plenty of love for Late of The Pier round here – check the new video for live favourite Focker  which is just crazy – be on the lookout for the re/release of Space & The Woods backed with Focker in a couple of weeks with some champions league remixes from the dons Switch and Erol Alkan – one of which I may have heard at the Deadly Rhythm Fluokeeeds hoedown on Friday night but that’s alll a bit hazy….

Three Little Words

photo by manuelomatic

I was meant to go and check out Teenagersintokyo at the Barfly on Monday, however the weekends seem to bringing too much fun into my life at the moment and consequently I spent Monday evening trying to ignore the protestations of my aching limbs.

Some degree of respite is presented in the form of some remixes of the spiky attractive girl poppyness  – given that TIT are on Backyard there was a musky air of inevitability that electrohouse remixes would appear at some point, but having listened to their mini album quite frequently these past few weeks I was a bit apprehensive about having what is quite enjoyable on it’s own get put through the remix grinder.

However efforts of fellow Australians D-Cup and G.L.O.V.E.S. on Very Vampyr and Robocat respectively are very much dancefloor heat and should be applauded accordingly with G.L.O.V.E.S.turning in a remix which should delight those who haven’t decided to treat Ed Banger as a verbal punch bag.

Teenagersintokyo – Very Vampyr (D-Cup Remix)

Teenagersintokyo – Robocat (G.L.O.V.E.S. Remix)

It also struck me today that the same night I wasn’t attending the Barfly I was also missing the chance to catch Sebastien Tellier before he knuckles down for Eurovison rehearsals. Though I was planning on attending to catch the lovely Lykke Li who was opening for the hirstute crooner. This caused a liberal dose of cursing at self.

Here is new Midnight Juggernauts remix of  Seb Tellier single Divine which drops on May 19th along with remix from the next French hype Danger.

Sebastien Tellier – Divine (Midnight Juggernauts Remix)

It also came to my attention how much I fancy the lass from Crystal Castles

(this may be bacause she has stopped hiding under her hoodie)