King Megatrip has been a longtime fan and contributor to Solid Steel over the last decade or more, he’s also subscribed to the weekly series of CDRs the show used to send out to radio stations (it’s all digital now).
As a result he has amassed a huge collection of shows from the last 10 years but the time has come for them to go. See more here and make him an offer
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Here we have what I hope to be the first in a series of limited edition signed prints of the work by Henry Flint that’s adorned my record sleeves over the last 2 years. The first one is ‘Life Cycle of a Machine’ that featured on my ‘The Shape of Things That Hum’ EP in late 2009 and was originally a B&W line drawing that Henry did which I have digitally coloured.
The giclee print is 64 x 47cm on 300gsm Somerset Photo paper which is 100% cotton and I can attest that the print is very high quality indeed. All will be signed by Henry and myself and will be available from Scraffer.com, sent rolled in a study cardboard tube. If these sell well there are plans for a further three prints featuring artwork from the album and EPs in the same format.
[youtube width=”640″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5AINIO4eFc&feature=player_embedded#at=200[/youtube]
A new Facebook group popped up this week reminiscing over the club at the centre of the mash up / bootleg / bastard pop craze of the early 2000’s. This short piece by a Swiss film crew was posted that I make a brief cameo in. The King Of The Boots/Bastard nights at the Asylum are some of my fondest clubbing memories (as a punter and a DJ), genuinely insane, hilarious as well, as each new mash was greeted with a roar of approval. There was a real shock of the new in some ways, you could hear the scene unfolding month after month, incredibly exciting as well as being some of the silliest, dance-on-the-table-shit-faced nights out.
I found this in the Music & Video Exchange last summer, the packaging was intriguing enough for me to part with £1 for it. On closer inspection I noticed it was designed by Pete Fowler, I like the way he’s used the title as a springboard for the way it unfolds.
Having a hard drive clear out / clean up, things might get a little random this week…
Loved Skylab‘s output, some truly wonderful records made by Mat Ducasse with some help from Major Force West and Howie B along the way.
These were in a box with a totally destroyed front cover, I like the way they look, kind if Warhol-like, next to each other.
‘The Incredible Sounds of the Synclavier II’ blue vinyl demonstration 12″, 1981, bargain basement find.
A few nice graphic takes on the first Star Wars trilogy in amongst the hip hop mash ups here by Nicholas Hyde.
I just played a packed and sweaty gig in Seignosse, France at the Safari Beach Club. The drive was 90 minutes from Bordeaux so I amused myself with various iPhone apps.
There
Back
Andy Votel and Doug Shipton’s Finders Keepers label was also affected in the PIAS fire earlier this week, they have responded by putting together a 10 CD series of compilation, curated by various friends like David Holmes, Jarvis Cocker, Gruff Rhys and Demdike Stare.
You can buy individual CDs or downloads or subscribe to the entire series upfront by visiting their website. Please support this excellent label and all its offshoots as they consistently amaze with their releases.
I could listen to this for ages, a simple yet fascinating idea, personalised for a number of North American cities, like a real time rolling KLF chill out piece.
Remember this painting? Here’s the first finished prototype, debuted at a Hong Kong Toy Fair a few weeks ago, check the amazing camera work in the video too.
Want! … so bad
Many of you will have heard about the riots in London and around the UK this week, the causes of these are many, complex and I’m not about to go into my views on them here. There are many repercussions to be felt from these that will no doubt be felt for years, if not decades, to come in this country. An immediate one though is the needless destruction of a warehouse containing stock from over 150 independent labels, including Ninja Tune and its sub-labels. PIAS (Play It Again Sam) have been our distributor for many years now and I have nothing but admiration for the way they are handling this catastrophe alongside AIM, – official Ninja statement below.
A fire on Monday night in London wiped out the entire stock in the primary warehouse of 165 Independent record labels. The best way to help in the immediate future is to buy an album from one of these labels from a UK digital store, local record shop whilst stocks last or direct from the label. This will enable them to remanufacture CDs and vinyl more quickly, to resupply the record shops who are also affected by the riots. For Ninja Tune it means we have had to put Toddla T album release back to August 22nd and spend a lot of money repressing other titles. It’s very sad to know some of our wonderful and more obscure back catalogue titles may never get to be repressed.
Alison Wenham, Chairman and CEO of AIM, the UK’s Trade Association for the Independent Music Industry, has also commented: “This is a disaster for the music community, but with the fans’ help, labels and artists will survive. Please show your support for the music community by buying a digital album from an independent label today.”
Although we despise the many gross inequalities and immoral profiteering in our country, it’s emblematic of the riots’ futility that a warehouse storing millions of units of the unusual, interesting and less commercially minded albums on indie labels was torched. We wish all the other affected labels and our excellent distributor the best of luck. And thanks to all our supporters! The full list of record labels is here: http://www.pias.com/uk/pias-distributed-labels-list/
Also – news of a new fund to help struggling labels – see the link below for more:
[PIAS] & AIM Establish Fund for Labels Adversely Affected By The Sony DADC Fire
According to Ivan over at OnyxCube – the no.1 Mike Hinge resource on the web – Mike would have been 80 years old today. To celebrate he has all sorts of special treats that he’s dug up to show including typeface designs and memories of old friends so go and check his site out, it’s a goldmine.
Over here though I’ve got a lovely selection of images saved by my good friend Elisa from various lots on eBay that were auctioned around 2003 when his estate sold a lot of his work on. Amazingly she forwarded me a whole folder she recently found on a hard drive that she’d kept, she also won the Kiwifan 10 piece (included here left). The images aren’t great because they were taken by the auctioneer but I’ve tried to make them look as good as possible – thanks Elisa!
My third EP will be called ‘Magpies, Maps and Moons’, featuring 5 tracks with a vocal collaboration from JG Thirlwell and a musical one from 2econd Class Citizen. It will be out Oct/Nov, on 12″ and DL, not entirely sure the exact date yet, with the album to follow shortly afterwards.
…only the Eagles of Death Metal will do
Poster by Michael Hacker, ed. of 71