I saw The Lego Movie yesterday with the family and it-was-AWESOME! Absolutely crazy amounts of detail in almost every frame and fun for both kids and adults. Highly recommended – here’s the blooper reel.
The Electric Hoax Pt.7 by Pete Milligan and Brendan McCarthy. This strip appeared in the weekly UK music paper, Sounds, in 24 parts sometime between mid ’78 and ’79. Click image for larger version
Still no idea when this is getting a proper release but I guess at some point this year we’ll see it in regular cinemas or on DVD. There’s a Facebook page for it now and a couple of posters with Chris Foss and Moebius artwork, possibly a book of some sort too maybe?
This is the best slice of acid-techno I’ve heard in a long while with beats bordering on the industrial. It’s by New Yorker-in-Berlin, Doug Lee under the alias An-i and is out now on Cititrax on luminous yellow vinyl, some with large newsprint poster. In a lot of ways it reminds me of things like Stakker ‘Humanoid’ but is way more relentless and noisy.
I’m no a ‘gamer’ by any stretch of the imagination, we have no PS3, XBox or Wii in our house so all I see is what the kids play online. But I REALLY want to play this if it ever comes to fruition. More info here.
There’s an interview with Cheeba, Moneyshot and myself on this edition of Bristol’s Universal Magnetic Radio show with Ben One and Awkward. It was conducted inside the boat shortly after we’d nailed the InnoFADER routine a few weeks ago. Unfortunately the other two don’t get much of a word in until about half way through as a lot of the questions seemed to be directed at me. The show deals with the theme of cut ups in general and also has a section dedicated to William Burroughs who would have been 100 this month. Our interview starts about an hour in…
UM-04-02-14-Cutups by Universal Magnetic Radio Show on Mixcloud
Last year I purchased a huge pile of Sounds newspapers from a seller on eBay covering the years 1980-1983. I’m slowly going through them day by day and either scanning or snapping things that I find interesting. This can be news items, adverts, interview snippets, comics, covers or other trivia that has become more interesting with the passing of time. Sounds was a weekly music paper along the lines of the NME and Melody Maker in the UK, all three published on a Wednesday and all now defunct except for the NME, which is recognisable in name only from its 80’s heyday.
Sounds was always known for favouring Rock, Heavy Metal and Punk, with a straighter, less arty bias to groups. They didn’t have the Paul Morleys, Ian Penmans, Nick Kents or Simon Reynolds‘ writing for them, instead they had Garry Bushell who championed the Oi movement with its dodgy skinhead bootboy overtones. During the period that these issues cover, the ‘Futurist’ movement is emerging, what’s now known as ‘Post Punk’ or ‘Synth Pop’ but back then was a product of digital technology becoming more affordable mixed with the Blitz-era nightlife and the ‘New Romantic’ scenes.
I’ve been posting images daily on my Facebook account but will do weekly round ups here if I can as the material can be illuminating with the benefit of 30+ years of hindsight. What smacks most is that nothing really changes much, bands are still built up and lauded only to be ridiculed and knocked down once they’re successful. You can spot the hype from the hope and certain names crop up again and again, week on week, clearly getting the preferential treatment afforded by friendships with certain journalists regardless of their merits. The industry is always on a downturn with profits threatened by some new format, this time it’s the cassette that’s killing music with just the first hints of the CD revolution to come. Albums and singles, now considered bonafide classics, are savaged in the review columns and information on forgotten or lost bands is ripe for rediscovery via the all-knowing web.
All in all I find it a fascinating weekly soap opera and I’ll be sharing the highlights here.
First up, a ‘Futurist’ chart followed by photos from a Futurist ‘summit’ interview where members of The Human League, Throbbing Gristle, Non, Nurse With Wound and Lemon Kittens largely argued against being labeled with the term.
Next, ‘Cassettes: Is this the Future of Rock’n’Roll?’ with Island Records‘ 1+1 tapes causing a stir because they feature an album on one side and a blank side for recording your own sounds on the other. Then, as the ‘tape war’ hots up, labels are too busy scrambling to notice a certain ‘laser disc’ quietly arriving on the scene.
The cassette hoo-ha was one that was largely antagonised by Malcolm McLaren, who was an open advocate of home taping and used it as a gimmick to sell the band he was managing, Bow Wow Wow. It was a lucky coincidence that the fashion of the day was a swashbuckling pirate look and the combination of that and the term ‘pirate’ being someone who made bootleg items was too good to resist.
Record prices rise shock! Vinyl goes up from 99p to £1.20 and labels want the shops to bear the brunt. In other news, heavy band get banned from working mens clubs for being too loud and not packing away fast enough. Rock n Roll. Lastly, as he’s been in the news this week for playing live in London, Prince’s first gig in the UK, advertised at the back of the paper amongst all the other concerts that week, only £3.00 on the door.
‘Joe Mansfield’s Beat Box Book’ is a beautiful collection of the best of his nearly 150 item collection of drum machines, published by his newly minted Get On Down book imprint. Joe bought his first drum machine, the Roland TR 808, in 1985 and was hooked, later going into production for rappers like Edo G and Scientifik before founding the Traffic Entertainment label which specialises in high end Hip Hop reissues.
I’m no hardware enthusiast and have only ever owned a handful of pieces of outboard kit in my time, preferring to work ‘in the box’ so to speak, but I can appreciate the visual appeal of a lot of these beat boxes even if I could only identify a few by ear. But being that this is a book and not a record, the aesthetics of these machines is what it’s all about and I doubt that anyone could have taken more care and done as much justice to their visual appeal as this book has. The photography is perfect, lighting the subjects so as to highlight their shape, textures and features beautifully whilst never shying away from the ravages that some of them have suffered at the hands of their owners over time.
But it’s not just a photo gallery, we’re also treated to reproductions of the graphics, manuals, vintage advertising material and even some of the original boxes they would have come in in all their faded, battered and taped-up glory. Whilst the 808, 909, DMX and Linn drums will be the most familiar, some of their close relatives are also featured like the Roland TR-55, TR-330, CR-78 Rhythmatic and Linn 9000.
There are some real curios here too, mostly from the crossover commercial market outside of the pro studio environment. The Rhythmatic Electronic Rhythm Section, with its ‘let’s take it out for a picnic’ carry handle and funky drummer graphic over the speaker for instance. The Casio PT-7 with its dinky, detachable keyboard or the Mattel Bee Gees (yes, those Bee Gees) Rhythm Machine which Kraftwerk famously bastardised to use on tour when they played ‘Pocket Calculator’. My favourite is the Bandmaster Powerhouse Rhythm Unit, a drum machine from 1975 that also played 8-Track tapes and allowed you to mix drum loops with your albums.
There’s some gorgeous typography too in the brand logos and machine identities plus the whole book is set in the OCR-A font – not your regular choice for large blocks of text but befitting the subject matter no end.
There are a few machines that will be nearly as familiar as the Roland‘s and Oberheim‘s on display here too. Many will remember the Casio VL-Tone VL-1, a regular of high street gadget and hi-fi shops as well as toy stores, the Boss Dr. Rhythm units and the Mattel Synsonics Drums with their four pads that could be hit with sticks.
The 808, 909, DMX and Linn drums get the lion’s share of the spotlight plus there are interviews with Roger Linn, Davy DMX, Schoolly D (about the 909) but nothing for the 808, which is a shame as someone like John Robie would have been a nice addition. This is a minor quibble, probably the only one, about a book which has a visual appeal far beyond the audio hardware fetish crowd. I wonder if we’ll see book collections showcasing the interfaces of classic software in another 20 years time? I doubt they’ll have quite the same appeal as this book does.
You can read more about it here and order a copy here including the regular version or a slip cased special edition with extra 7″ and cassette.
The Electric Hoax Pt.6 by Pete Milligan and Brendan McCarthy. This strip appeared in the weekly UK music paper, Sounds, in 24 parts sometime between mid ’78 and ’79. Click image for larger version
One month to go until DJ Cheeba unveils his new, years in the making, AV show at Bristol’s Cube Cinema. After School Special looks at a century of drug use from both sides through music and film and there’ll be some special surprises for all who attend. It looks like it’s sold out already from the Cube website.
“Over 24″ tall” – just take my money already.
Cheeba, Moneyshot and I were filmed by the Scratch Pro Audio crew for the InnoFADER sessions on a boat in Bristol a couple of weeks ago. We performed a short routine culled from part of the ‘3-Way Mix’, the reconstruction of ‘Paul’s Boutique’ we’re touring this year.
The Scratch Pro Audio crew sell and distribute specialist DJ products and very kindly hooked us up with InnoFADER cross faders for our mixers and Dr Suzuki Slipmats. Along with the Rane 62 mixers, Serato DJ software & control records and Magma DJ bags, we’re very lucky to be using some of the best gear out there. Thanks guys!
All together now, “I’m on a boat motherfu…”
DJ Cheeba, DJ Moneyshot and I are touring the ‘3-Way Mix’ this year. That being a 4 deck, 3 DJ reconstruction of the Beastie Boys’ ‘Paul’s Boutique‘ album made from all the original tracks that they, and the Dust Brothers, sampled + more.
Here’s the first round of tour dates (more to come) with a graphic I made featuring all the sources they sampled, can you spot the Beasties? I made several versions + several Facebook timeline headers. Click for large versions.
Available Feb 13th from 3A
Wish I could afford this, currently on sale on eBay – going at $1,525.00 with 1 day left. Nice story behind it from the seller too:
“My mother used to work for King Features in New York, and as a young child I would often accompany her to work. Many times to keep me entertained I would be seated in a screening room and shown Yellow Submarine, as I was a huge Beatles fan. One day, I found a large selection of Yellow Sub production material on the floor by the freight elevator in the process of being thrown out. Needless to say, I grabbed a lot of it (wish I’d grabbed it all!). I had a rather large collection of cels, backgrounds and production drawings. Eventually, I decided to part with them, and over the years I’ve sold them all, both on eBay and at auction through the It’s Only Rock and Roll auction house in NYC. Recently, however, I found that I still had this piece left.
Although it is about 45 years old and certainly shows its age, it is unique and lovely. Please feel free to ask any questions. If you bid, please remember that this is a one of a kind piece that has not been stored in a fancy vault somewhere…I was about 12 when I acquired the Yellow Sub pieces, and a plastic bag was my idea of storage. It is in far from perfect condition, but is also historical, unique, and from one of the most wonderful and classic animated films ever made.”
Love the idea behind this, not played it yet but will definitely be trying it out. Please watch this 75 second video to find out how playing this can help scientists beat Cancer sooner. More info here.
DJ Cheeba, DJ Moneyshot & DJ Food – ‘3-Way Mix’ trailer from Solid Steel on Vimeo.
Here’s a little short I just edited to promote the ‘3-Way Mix’ tour DJ’s Cheeba, Moneyshot and I are doing at the moment. It was shot by Jim Alexander at Solid Steel‘s 25th anniversary party at Fire in London last December. We’re still taking bookings so, if you want to see this in your town or city then check the details at the end.
The second volume of Ed Piskor‘s ‘Hip Hop Family Tree‘ – a history of rap music in comic book form – is out this summer. It features another round of guest artist pin ups and a few of these have leaked on the web in the past week or so. There will also be a free issue, drawing from both volumes and sporting a new cover, out for Free Comic Book Day this May.
La Boca have designed this lovely box set for the new Bombay Bicycle Club LP, ‘So Long’, which comes with a CD, a gatefold LP, an exclusive 7″, story & song book and a working Phenakistoscope (similar to a zoetrope). Find one at their site or see the beautiful fly posters of the artwork around town.
