two months, twenty odd versions and fifty plus upload attempts later ...
Wednesday, 31 March 2010
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Video For The Hills Have Riffs
Currently making a video for my friend the hills have riffs.
We filmed around Abney Park Cemetary in Stoke Newington while trying to avoid too many gravestones. It will also feature footage shot at his first ever gig at Jamboree in Limehouse.
The park provided a beautiful and fitting backdrop for the music. Now I will try and do my best to avoid destroying the mood with my crazy editing skillz.
Check here for the the final version and probably some tests as well.
This entry endorses Panasonic minDV cameras and Adobe Premiere Pro.
We filmed around Abney Park Cemetary in Stoke Newington while trying to avoid too many gravestones. It will also feature footage shot at his first ever gig at Jamboree in Limehouse.
The park provided a beautiful and fitting backdrop for the music. Now I will try and do my best to avoid destroying the mood with my crazy editing skillz.
Check here for the the final version and probably some tests as well.
This entry endorses Panasonic minDV cameras and Adobe Premiere Pro.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Snow Britain January 2010
Recently it has been snowing in Britain like a nano ice age. Pictures from what the media calls "Frozen Britain".
It certainly makes for nice photos even with my below average camera phone. This is looking East up Brooke Rd in Stoke Newington, Hackney.
Spot the difference.
It certainly makes for nice photos even with my below average camera phone. This is looking East up Brooke Rd in Stoke Newington, Hackney.
Stoke Newington Common looking south west, 73
bus in the distance.
Spot the difference.
Looking North at the deserted playground.
Rothko if he cheered up (no spirit level used).
Looking West on Brooke Rd.
Slightly ruined by glove clumsiness.
Friday, 18 December 2009
An Underground Hip Hop Sensation
Credit to The Wire for this recommendation. His name Sensational takes on a certain playfulness when his music remains so understated, for a hip hop artist. Apparently he uses no samples, favouring live instrumentation. It's certainly refreshing to hear hip hop that isn't clean and skyscraper shiny instead mirroring the streets from where it came. In fact Sensational is something of a salesman, regularly talking up his tapes to strangers from corners. The album is called "Get On My Page" and you'll be rewarded with some good experimental hip hop if you do. He also features in an underground 90s Brooklyn hip hop film. From LastFm
Sensational is “underground hip-hop’s number one upstart-in-waiting.” Sensational’s unique style and personality have been showcased in the semi-biographical film Crooked (WSCD041), released by WordSound in 2001. The film, which documents the underground hip-hop scene in Brooklyn in the ’90s, became an instant cult classic and is available on DVD along with its companion soundtrack, produced largely by Sensational.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
My Albums Of The Noughties
Here it is, a list of my favourite 21 albums of the first ten years of the 21st century. There are 21 because that's just the way it panned out. The criteria is simply which albums have I listened to the most since the new millenium.
I also cross referenced my fading memories of yearly album lists I compiled when I worked in a record shop and lists made with friends after this. Here is a podcast released in Dec 2008 reviewing that year in music with Jack Mountain and TheoGb. My Lastfm profile is here. The decade list seems to favour the first half with no albums from 2007 at all. The list is currently in chronological order and features one act from the UK, one from Japan and two from Canada.
Tracks From My Albums Of The Noughties
I also cross referenced my fading memories of yearly album lists I compiled when I worked in a record shop and lists made with friends after this. Here is a podcast released in Dec 2008 reviewing that year in music with Jack Mountain and TheoGb. My Lastfm profile is here. The decade list seems to favour the first half with no albums from 2007 at all. The list is currently in chronological order and features one act from the UK, one from Japan and two from Canada.
Tracks From My Albums Of The Noughties
Animal Collective - “Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished”
(2000) Paw Tracks, reiussed 2003 by Fat Cat Records
Related - Flaming Lips, Black Dice, Forever Changes, Roland SH-2, psychedelic, feedback loops
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - “Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven” (2000) Constellation Records
Related - A Silver Mt Zion, field recordings, strings
Track - Storm
At The Drive-In - “Relationship Of Command” (2000) Grand Royal
Related – Fugazi, Drive Like Jehu, Texas, post-hardcore, afros
Track – At the Drive-In – Quarantined
Cannibal Ox - “The Cold Vein” (2001) Def Jux
Related - Wu-Tang Clan, El-P, Harlem, backpacks, indie hip hop
Track - Cannibal Ox – Battle For Asgard
Hood - “Cold House” (2001) Domino Records
Les Savy Fav - “Go Forth” (2001) French Kiss
Related – Dismemberment Plan, Pixies, Talking Heads, live performance, art, indie
Do Make Say Think - “& Yet & Yet” (2002) Constellation Records
Track - Classic Noodlanding
Related – Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, Japanese noise, murder, death, kill
Track - Amaryllis
Related – Pavement, The Year Punk Broke, Jim O'Rourke,indie
Track - Sonic Youth – The Empty Page
Related– Edan, Company Flow, Cannibal Ox,Brooklyn, indie hip hop
Track - El-P – Dr. Hellno & The Praying Mantus
Track - El-P – Dr. Hellno & The Praying Mantus
Track - Big Drop
Related- Sebadoh, The Replacements, In The Red Records, indie, garage
Track - A Flower In The Ending
Related – The Van Pelt, The Lapse, Bruce Springsteen, anthemic
Track - House of Cats
Track - House of Cats
Shipping News - “Flies The Field” (2005) Touch & Go Records / Quarterstick
Related – June Of 44, Rodan, Enablers, Chicago indie
Track - The Human Face
Marnie Stern - “This Is It and I Am It and You Are It and So Is That and He Is It and She Is It and It Is It and That Is That” (2008) Kill Rock Stars
Related – Hella, Fleetwood Mac, Zach Hill, Kate Bush, prog, punk, indie
Track - Crippled Jazzer
Track - Crippled Jazzer
Related – The Mae Shi, No Age, LA, The Smell, tropicalia, punk
Track - Bear Face
Track - Bear Face
HEALTH - “GET COLOR” (2009) Lovepump Unlimited
Related – Squarepusher, Fuck Buttons, Crystal Castles, LA, avant rock, indie, punk
Track - Health – Die Slow
Oneida - “Rated O” (2009) Jagjaguwar
Related – Liars, Can, Neu, classic rock, avant rock, experimental
Track - Oneida – I Will Haunt You
Track - Oneida – I Will Haunt You
Bubbling under - Radiohead - "Kid A" (2000), Tortoise - "Standards", Hot Snakes - "Suicide Invoice", Edan - "Primitive Plus", Tom Waits - "Real Gone", Clouddead - s/t, Dananananaykroyd- "Hey Everyone"
Thanks for reading!
Monday, 16 November 2009
Rap Obsession
It's hip hop phase time, chiefly hip hop from New York around the mid-90s. So I'm not talking about some office worker favourite Jay-Z accountant shit. Here is the current hall of fame:
Nas
Illmatic released in April 1994 is often considered the greatest hip hop album ever made whatever that entails! Tracks like New York State of Mind and Life's A Bitch demonstrate Nas' great lyrical flow and storytelling about the Queensbridge housing projects where he grew up in. Sample lyrics include:
Add in DJ Premier from Gang Starr providing the production and it's the two most talented hip hop artists at the time. There's not a bad track on it as 'Nasty' Nas goes from thoughtful ballads One Love and Memory Lane to Moet-in-the-air party anthem Represent. The result is an inspired album that eats one dimensional MTV rappers for breakfast. (cough cough Jay-Z, 50 Cent). Also what a great cover!
His subsequent albums It Was Written (1996), I Am (1999) and especially in 2001 Stillmatic were all still far above the competition for those who rate great rapping, production and musicanship. He has also released an untitled album in 2008, including a welcome diss against Fox News, aptly named Sly Fox. How many rapper would have the brains and kahunas to do this?
AZ
Nas' mate and made the only Illmatic guest appearance on Life's A Bitch. His verse on that matches Nas so I checked out his first album Doe or Die.
It does not disapoint and stands up to Illmatic. While superior to most other hip hop it's understandably not held in the same esteem as Illmatic, it's overlong and lacks the originality and range of Nas' effort, and it came out a year later. The rhymes are great though and delivered with intent as well as dexterity and speed.
Mobb Deep
More friends of Nas and AZ.
Nas
Illmatic released in April 1994 is often considered the greatest hip hop album ever made whatever that entails! Tracks like New York State of Mind and Life's A Bitch demonstrate Nas' great lyrical flow and storytelling about the Queensbridge housing projects where he grew up in. Sample lyrics include:
It drops deep as it does in my breath
I never sleep, cause sleep is the cousin of death
Beyond the walls of intelligence, life is defined
I think of crime when I'm in a New York state of mind
Add in DJ Premier from Gang Starr providing the production and it's the two most talented hip hop artists at the time. There's not a bad track on it as 'Nasty' Nas goes from thoughtful ballads One Love and Memory Lane to Moet-in-the-air party anthem Represent. The result is an inspired album that eats one dimensional MTV rappers for breakfast. (cough cough Jay-Z, 50 Cent). Also what a great cover!
His subsequent albums It Was Written (1996), I Am (1999) and especially in 2001 Stillmatic were all still far above the competition for those who rate great rapping, production and musicanship. He has also released an untitled album in 2008, including a welcome diss against Fox News, aptly named Sly Fox. How many rapper would have the brains and kahunas to do this?
Slick shit, sensin' misinformationLater on he gets quite specific.
Pimp the station, over stimulation
Reception, deception Comcast digital Satan
The Fox has a bushy tail and Bush tells lies and Fox trots
So I don't know what's real
They say I'm all about murder-murder and kill-killAh screw it here's the vide-e-i-o-a!
But what about Grindhouse and Kill Bill?
What about Cheney and Halliburton?
The backdoor deals on oil fields
How's Nas the most violent person?
AZ
Nas' mate and made the only Illmatic guest appearance on Life's A Bitch. His verse on that matches Nas so I checked out his first album Doe or Die.
It does not disapoint and stands up to Illmatic. While superior to most other hip hop it's understandably not held in the same esteem as Illmatic, it's overlong and lacks the originality and range of Nas' effort, and it came out a year later. The rhymes are great though and delivered with intent as well as dexterity and speed.
Mobb Deep
More friends of Nas and AZ.
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Travelling Around Canada/USA Pt III: New England
Boston
Harvard, UMASS, MIT, The Irish, College Rock, Funny Accents, Celtics, Red Sox, Mystic River and Cheers.
Had to go through a toll to get there. We didn't have exact money but ended up in the pre-pay lane and got some serious road rage directed against us for our crime against humanity. I made sure I looked like a terrorist as the impatient yuppie roared by. Before all that we crossed the border from Canada into Vermont and had our boot checked, as the official was going through my passport he saw that I had been to Ghana and wondered why I'd been there. I wearily replied that it had nice beaches but he preferred California because at least there you wouldn't get speared in your butt by a pygmy. I should have said that I travelled there so I wouldn't end up an ignorant red neck, but we needed entry into his great country.
On the plus side Vermont was beautiful. So named because of the abundance of tree-covered hills (literally in French means green mountain). We got lost several times and ended up in traffic in New Hampshire which was also scenic and as the name implies, like Middle England except with more pick up trucks. When we finally got to Boston it was late and we were pretty hacked off with everything and each other which climaxed when we tried to find parking and accommodation. I wanted to get settled and go out but my brother thought having a beer right now was a better idea. It wasn't pretty. And I thought he was suppose to be the older, responsible one. After being turned away from many of the cheap occupied hostels we settled for a upmarket place slightly away from the action and hit the bars.
We found one nearby which was supposed to be based on the bar in Cheers or was it the other way around. There's probably millions of them. Then we discovered a pub with a cheesy funk rock band and a no smoking policy. Needless to say there were people outside puffing. Soon we were tired so we had bagels and watched John Lydon on some American chat show being funny and taking the piss.
Next day we went to Cambridge a kind of suburb of Boston with the status all of its own. As the name suggests it is home to the elite academia of the US in the shape of Harvard. What we found was a huge shopping mall but with more character with nice pedestrianised streets and chic plazas. Two record shops stood out Planet which does second hand and Newbury Comics which despite the name is probably the best record store i have EVER been to. I measured this using the standard 'how much time/money am i going to waste here' test. It was cheap, had nearly every album by bands I liked, also some nice 7s and the odd vinyl gem. The staff looked a little sour but then i can't really talk. I spent a small fortune then, in order to wash ourselves of unabashed consumerism checked out the old style Harvard brownstone buildings in the leafy area.
We found some nice bars nearer towards Boston that obviously had the student bohemian indie rock dollar in mind. Although the jukeboxes were a little unimaginative. One pub had some quite funny improvisational comedy going down in the style of Whose line is it Anyway? Another earthy Irish type pub resembled one in the Boston-set film Mystic River when the girls start dancing on the tables (no, it's nothing like Coyote Ugly); as i was wearing a NY Yankees cap I inquired as to whether I was gonna get a beating from some Red Sox fan. It turned out one of the guys at the bar had a Yankees tattoo. Shame, I was looking forward to a tumble with some local ruffian. I guess this kind of sporting rivalry only exists in dead end parts of British cities where there's no room.
The atmosphere of Boston was noticeably different to that of Chicago, Toronto, Detroit which all had that Midwestern hospitality, even Montreal had its own kind of French thing going on. Boston, though, is East Coast aloof and more European, obviously with the whole Harvard connection and the strong British colonial influence. You'd think to us it would have felt more at home but the opposite was the case. Its hard to make these generalisations in short stays and I could give you specific examples but I learnt a lot by just merely observing and listening to people. My brother felt the same. Even though I should go back to learn more I'm not in any great hurry to return. Goodbye Boston, it was swell.
Harvard, UMASS, MIT, The Irish, College Rock, Funny Accents, Celtics, Red Sox, Mystic River and Cheers.
Had to go through a toll to get there. We didn't have exact money but ended up in the pre-pay lane and got some serious road rage directed against us for our crime against humanity. I made sure I looked like a terrorist as the impatient yuppie roared by. Before all that we crossed the border from Canada into Vermont and had our boot checked, as the official was going through my passport he saw that I had been to Ghana and wondered why I'd been there. I wearily replied that it had nice beaches but he preferred California because at least there you wouldn't get speared in your butt by a pygmy. I should have said that I travelled there so I wouldn't end up an ignorant red neck, but we needed entry into his great country.
On the plus side Vermont was beautiful. So named because of the abundance of tree-covered hills (literally in French means green mountain). We got lost several times and ended up in traffic in New Hampshire which was also scenic and as the name implies, like Middle England except with more pick up trucks. When we finally got to Boston it was late and we were pretty hacked off with everything and each other which climaxed when we tried to find parking and accommodation. I wanted to get settled and go out but my brother thought having a beer right now was a better idea. It wasn't pretty. And I thought he was suppose to be the older, responsible one. After being turned away from many of the cheap occupied hostels we settled for a upmarket place slightly away from the action and hit the bars.
We found one nearby which was supposed to be based on the bar in Cheers or was it the other way around. There's probably millions of them. Then we discovered a pub with a cheesy funk rock band and a no smoking policy. Needless to say there were people outside puffing. Soon we were tired so we had bagels and watched John Lydon on some American chat show being funny and taking the piss.
Next day we went to Cambridge a kind of suburb of Boston with the status all of its own. As the name suggests it is home to the elite academia of the US in the shape of Harvard. What we found was a huge shopping mall but with more character with nice pedestrianised streets and chic plazas. Two record shops stood out Planet which does second hand and Newbury Comics which despite the name is probably the best record store i have EVER been to. I measured this using the standard 'how much time/money am i going to waste here' test. It was cheap, had nearly every album by bands I liked, also some nice 7s and the odd vinyl gem. The staff looked a little sour but then i can't really talk. I spent a small fortune then, in order to wash ourselves of unabashed consumerism checked out the old style Harvard brownstone buildings in the leafy area.
We found some nice bars nearer towards Boston that obviously had the student bohemian indie rock dollar in mind. Although the jukeboxes were a little unimaginative. One pub had some quite funny improvisational comedy going down in the style of Whose line is it Anyway? Another earthy Irish type pub resembled one in the Boston-set film Mystic River when the girls start dancing on the tables (no, it's nothing like Coyote Ugly); as i was wearing a NY Yankees cap I inquired as to whether I was gonna get a beating from some Red Sox fan. It turned out one of the guys at the bar had a Yankees tattoo. Shame, I was looking forward to a tumble with some local ruffian. I guess this kind of sporting rivalry only exists in dead end parts of British cities where there's no room.
The atmosphere of Boston was noticeably different to that of Chicago, Toronto, Detroit which all had that Midwestern hospitality, even Montreal had its own kind of French thing going on. Boston, though, is East Coast aloof and more European, obviously with the whole Harvard connection and the strong British colonial influence. You'd think to us it would have felt more at home but the opposite was the case. Its hard to make these generalisations in short stays and I could give you specific examples but I learnt a lot by just merely observing and listening to people. My brother felt the same. Even though I should go back to learn more I'm not in any great hurry to return. Goodbye Boston, it was swell.
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