Music
I’ve been having a reacquainted love affair this year with all things analogue, seventies and sci-fi. It seems to happen every few years and all I want to look at are curved edges, computer fonts, muted tones and airbrushed images from the days before computers made everything virtual. I’ve been doing a T- shirt design based on the Moog and whilst doing some research I stumbled upon this site.
Someone has scanned several issues of a synth mag from the mid seventies called Synapse. It contains interviews with people like Eno, Zappa, Kraftwerk, Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Bob Moog, Pat Gleeson and a whole lot more. In amongst all this are reviews, how-to’s and loads of ads for what are now vintage synths.
The Kraftwerk interview is great, at one point they talk about a comic they’ve made where small plug-in systems try try to make contact with all these inputs and outputs, coming together to make a group. They talk about doing a book where they present more of their work to people in ways it can’t be shown on record. Shame it didn’t materialise.
What has materialised at long last though is the fabled reissues of their albums from 1974 -2003 – known to fans as ‘the catalogue’ – and originally meant for release in 2004. Some promo copies even slipped out but then nothing, now they are finally available via Mute in the UK. Now that’s one set of remasters I’ve been looking forward to whilst everyone else bangs on about the other Fab Four.
Here’s the front cover for the next DJ Food EP – ‘The Shape Of Things That Hum’ – released Nov 30th. The 12″ sleeve will again be a poster cover featuring work by the ever brilliant Henry Flint (currently drawing Shakara in 2000ad) with colours by yours truly. Here’s a little bit of the back cover too.
Following on from the last post, I never tire of listening to Boards of Canada and Skywave Systems recently posted an excellent mix of their work. It’s very well put together with some rareties, as well as original sample sources, in amongst the tunes that will delight even the most hardcore BOC fans.
Nice artwork on the site too…
Just arrived at the door, what a lovely package, congratulations to all involved and Happy 20th Warp. My only gripe is that I could have been part of the package as they asked me to do the mix last year but I simply didn’t have the time so I passed them on to Osymyso. Looking forward to digesting it all.
This will be the next DJ Food EP in the trilogy, released Dec 7th as a 12″ with poster cover and download with 3 bonus remixes.
Side A
1. Sentinel (Shadow Guard) – DJ Food & DK, mixed by King Cannibal
2. extract from Stolen Moments too – variations on a theme
3. Brother John – featuring the voice of John Rydgren, a tribute of sorts
Side B
1. GIANT (instrumental) This is a cover of the The The classic, there will be a vocal version on the album next year by Matt Johnson himself
2. Sentinel (Lunar Defence) – a reprise / reversion of the main track
8 track Download + pdf booklet
All Covered In Darkness (Mr P remix suite) 3 remixes by PC totalling 13 minutes.
Artwork is again by Henry Flint on the inks and me on the colours, here’s the main cover / poster image.
Got sent these the other day by Sean Vinylement who also works for Finder’s Keepers Records. On the left is a rather fine mix of Jean-Claude Vannier compositions by Andy Votel – limited to 69 copies apparently. Alongside it is Sean’s new album ‘Symbiosis’ by his alter ego Demdike Stare, a very deep electronic record that reminds me of Basic Channel and Murcof simultaneously but with something far darker lurking under the surface.
Been a bit quiet recently mostly on account of being on holiday with the family and knuckling down on the music.
The next EP is nearly in the bag, featuring a collaboration with DK – mixed by King Cannibal no less, a remix of ‘All Covered In Darkness’ by PC, a cover version and more artwork by the excellent Henry Flint. Mixdowns take place next week, mastering the week after, release should be Oct / Nov.
Kid Koala just sent me the new record he did with Dynomite D – ‘The Slew’ and it is stunning, a mix of rock, blues and scratching, you won’t have heard much like this before. Download it for free here – don’t worry, I’m not into music piracy, this link comes direct from Kid Koala himself with the message “Feel free to pass it on to anyone you think would enjoy this noise. ;)”
DJ Moneyshot’s September Solid Steel mix is floating around on the web already, it’s a collection of all the tracks the Beastie Boys sampled on their ‘Check Your Head’ album and has been on constant rotation here since I got it.
I’ve raved about him before but I just finished ‘Totally Wired’ by Simon Reynolds, the companion to one of my books of the year in 2007 – ‘Rip It Up And Start Again’. Essentially a series of interviews made during research for the first book, it is fascinating reading for anyone interested in music circa ’78-84.
Ashley Wood has some great new robots out, just a shame I’m broke after the taxman reared his annual head.
This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in ages, Finnish guitarist StStanders strips the track’s audio and inserts his own, complete with off key music and silly lyrics.
PC just dropped round his remix of ‘All Covered In Darkness’ – a real treat! Don’t know what release it’s going to be on yet but it’s awesome and changes the tone of the original a lot whilst still keeping some of the key elements. Well pleased 
Currently speeding towards Manchester to play at Moho Live tonight…
“As we leave you now…”
This arrived in the mail today completely unannounced and the packaging immediately made an impression. I recognised the designer as being the same Nina Vrhovec who designed this flyer for my last gig in Ljubljana. The cover image is actually a 3D construction if you look closely which is pretty impressive as it could easily have been made by computer. The CD is a compilation of unsigned Solvenian artists in conjunction with the Dept. of Culture with music ranging for IDM to breaks, even industrial rock on one track and has a high hit rate for music makers without a deal. More info here www.klubk4.org and listen and buy here
Last Friday we made No.2 and No.8 with the Ninja Tune and Solid Steel podcast respectively on the iTunes Music chart – whoohoo! Well done to DK and guests who put together the show with so much effort
A Weird World Reader by strictly
A trip through the new DJ Food EP ‘One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World’ featuring tracks, samples and influences that make it what it is.
A trip through the new DJ Food EP ‘One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World’ featuring tracks, samples and influences that make it what it is.
- Tracklist:
DJ Food feat Natural Self – The Illectrik Hoax (Ninja Tune)
Rare Bird – Hammerhead (ABC / Dunhill)
The Black Keys – Have Love Will Travel (Alive)
The Broken Keys – Razorblade (Tru Thoughts)
Mr Chop – The Infinity Machine (Now Again)
Oasis – Falling Down (Amorphous Androgynous Exploding Bubble remix) (Big Brother)
DJ Food – extract from Stolen Moments (Ninja Tune)
The Dragons – Soul Teacher (Rural Records)
Ken Nordine – Manned Satellite (Dot)
DJ Food – All Covered In Darkness (Ninja Tune)
The The – Giant (Some Bizarre)
Keno-1 and the Hermit – Heavy Heavy (Breakin Bread)
Grace Jones – Corporate Cannibal (Wall of Sound)
DJ Food – Tricky Little Ears (The Cheech Wizard Pays Respect To All Living Creatures Who Inhabit Dark Places remix by Bundy K Brown) (Ninja Tune)
DJ Food – A Trick of The Ear (Ninja Tune)
Grace Jones – Hurricane (Wall of Sound)
Bundy K Brown – Soldier of Fortune (Thrill Jockey)
Dr Rubberfunk – Sunset Breakdown (GPR)
Paul Weller – Sunflower (Lynch Mob dub) (Go Discs)
DJ Food – All Covered In Darkness Pt 2 (Ninja Tune)
DJ Food – Colours Beyond Colours (Ninja Tune)
DJ Food – ‘One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World’ (Promo) by Ninja Tune
It’s spam week Here are 3 of the 6 tracks on the EP. The Ninja night at the ICA yesterday was really fun, saw loads of people I’d not seen in ages. Canterbury Lounge on the Farm festival tonight.
Check the Ninja Tune Soundcloud page for previews of all the lastest releases.
A little gif animation from the German Zero-inch site – thanks guys!
It’s here, you wait for ages and then three come along at once. Yes I finally got round to releasing another record and it’s out today, a 30 minute EP on Ninja Tune called ‘One Man’s Weird Is Another Man’s World’. It features the vocal talents of Natural Self (yes, I said vocal) on lead track ‘The Illectrik Hoax’ and the nifty drums of Dr. Rubberfunk alongside the sampled vocals of Ken Nordine and The Dragons on ‘All Covered In Darkness’. Bundy K Brown is behind the board for ‘A Trick of the Ear’ and an old collaboration with PC makes it’s first appearance in the form of ‘extract from Stolen Moments’. 2000ad artist Henry Flint graciously provided drawings for the cover art to make it something worth having and holding when it folds out to an A2 sized poster. It’s available in the form of a 5 track 12″ with poster cover and download code or a 6 track mp3 bundle.
You can hear selections from it on my Soundcloud and buy it from iTunes / DJ Download / Play.com / Spotify / we7 / Ninja shop / HMV Digital / Bleep / Tune Tribe / 7 Digital / Juno / Boomkat
There’s an interview in the new Clash Music magazine including a free mp3 and a very nice review by Mark E on Ireallylovemusic
Not only is there a new record but the near mythical DJ Food site is finally ready, choc full of stuff from my Openmind alter ego design work past and present and a full DJ Food discography stretching back nearly 20 years. If you want to know anything about the records connected to this moniker over the years then it will be there along with gig dates, blogs, playlists and more. The site is divided into 4 sections: Diary, Design, Discography and Downloads and you can subscribe to the blog without going through myspace at last. It’s still a work in progress as there is so much to present, especially on the design side of things as most entries provide stories, alternate artwork and release info. A big thanks to Dean at Safe As Milk for all his hard work on making it what it is.
And finally, it’s a Solid Steel takeover this week with an hour long mix from myself based on the EP with tracks from all the contributors, some original sample sources and various things I that inspired the making of it. The second hour is a fantastic mix from The Broken Keys – aka Natural Self and Nostalgia 77 – called ‘Engine Oil and Elbow Grease’, stuffed to the brim with old funk, rock breaks and psyche. You can listen here.
Feels good to finally have something out, 1 down, 2 to go…
I just did my top 10 Food related records for the data transmission site – check ’em out here
Been busy doing all sorts of things and not had time to post much but I did a short interview with the Keep Up! guys a month or so ago and it’s on their site right now. It’s about the making of the King Cannibal 12″ cover which is just out and available to buy here. The Keep Up! interview is here
On the subject of my own release, i’ve posted the artwork on my Flickr page and the release is now July 6th I’m told, by which time I should be well into the second EP for delivery a month later.
I’m currently finishing artwork for The Herbaliser‘s ‘Session 1’ (reissue) and ‘Session 2‘ (all new live recordings of Herbs classics) and starting King Cannibal‘s LP art