Gotta give it up for Jason Galea – just churning out work for King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard constantly. Record sleeves, videos, merch and posters like these, almost for every gig they do. Results vary of course but here’s the pick of the bunch from about the last year.
He’s also put together a book of all his work, due out this Winter with over a decade’s worth of designs and other material. You can order it here.
Beautiful poster by Victor Hubinon from Spirou magazine in 1968
A Bryan Talbot cover for Zig Zag in 1976
Ian Wright does the Damned for Zig Zag in 1981
Unknown artist for another Zig Zag cover of the Stones from 1977
One of Andy DOG Johnson’s first commissions – think I’ve shown this before but this is possibly better quality – Kraftwerk for Record Mirror in 1978
Savage Pencil covering Sun Dial, this poster was from 1995 I believe
Robert Crumb illustrates the Whole Earth Catalog’s Last Supplement – see what he did there?
It’s that time of year again, my annual mix debuts tonight on the 45 Live radio show, hosted as ever by the divine Greg Belson on Dublab. You know the drill, all 45s, no other sizes but 7″ vinyl, I’ve dug deep as ever for this, some of these tracks were only bought a week before I made the mix. I’m mining the vintage dance pool once again from the heyday of the late 80s and early 90s and this is probably my most housey entry ever, drawing heavily on the Champion label (Raze get three entries and no, one of them isn’t ‘Jack The Groove’) and beyond. It’s also the most tracks I’ve fitted into an hour for the show, 32 in total, trying to speed up my mixes to make it interesting. I really had fun bashing through this and plenty of the tracks still stand up. I decided to bookend the mix with two spoken samples from the same flexi disc, we start with love and end with sex – enjoy. As usual Greg bookends the show with his own unique selections – you can tune in live at 4am GMT (Aug 17th UK time) as the show goes out 8pm-10pm PST on the west coast tonight. https://www.dublab.com/shows/45-live-radio-show
Track listing – Early House / Hip House mix ’86-91 – Aug 2024
Dee-Lite – What Is Love? (Holographic Goatee Mix) 1990
E-Zee Posse – Breathing Is E-Zee (Instrumental) 1991
Turntable Orchestra – Gonna Miss Me (Vocal) 1988
Pulse – Shut Up Already (Fierce Mix) 1987
Frankie Knuckles – Your Love 1989
Wally Jump Junior & The Criminal Element – Cut Me Loose 1986
D.L. Kool – Get On Up 1989
Criminal Element Orchestra – Put The Needle On The Record 1987
Emilio – Do It Again Emilio 1988
D.J. Lelewel – Amgic Atto II (The Deep Edit) 1989
Tingo Tango – It Is Jazz 1990
The Funky Worm – Hustle! (To The Music) 1988
Plus+One feat. Siren – It’s Happenin’ 1990
Frank K. feat. Wiston Office – Everybody Lets Somebody Love 1991
Raze – Let The Music Move U 1987
Sterling Void – Set Me Free (Music Mix) 1988
Liquid Oxygen – The Planet Dance (Move Ya Body) 1990
Musto & Bones – All I Want Is To Get Away (Bones Beats) 1990
Raze – Bass Power (Power Bass remix) 1991
Bootleggers – Hot Mix 3 1988
Jazzi P – Feel The Rhythm 1990
The Beatmasters – Warm Love (The Field Hippy Mix) 1989
Toni Scott – That’s How I’m Living 1989
101 – Just As Long As I Got You (House Mix) 1989
Mr Lee – I Can’t Forget 1987
Raze feat. Lady J – All 4 Love (Break 4 Love 1990)
Doo Lally ‘D’ – Floorshaker (Dynamite edit) 1991
True Faith w. Final Cut – You Can’t Deny the Bass (Dub) 1989
Hi Tek 3 feat Shamrock – Come On and Dance (Radio Mix)1990
Reese & Santonio – Truth of Self Evidence 1988
Frankie Knuckles – Baby Wants To Ride 1989
Lee Lewis – French Kiss (The Remix) 1989
The August recommends list is out: here’s nine records that have been floating my boat recently, quite a few hip hop bits this month from The Allergies feat. Ohmega Watts, DJ Krash Slaughter feat. Phil Most Chill, Kid Acne and Bsidewinsagain’s cut ups. Markey Funk and Jem Stone bring the downtempo funk beats and Sculpture’s new LP and Earth Leakage Trip’s reissued debut bring the electronic weirdness. The new physical issue of Moonbuilding mag is also with us, containing an exclusive unreleased Polypors album of ambient bliss. For more ambient bliss, not pictured is the Floating World Pictures meets Ocean Moon album – get on that this summer for sure.
My new ROVR radio show featuring some of these was aired yesterday, Friday Aug 2nd and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID
Listen at ROVR radio, download the app to get archive access. APPLE or ANDROID
Show #5 tracklist Aug 2024
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #25
The Allergies – No Flash (feat. Ohmega Watts)
Beastie Boys – So What’cha Want (Bsidewinsagain remix)
Long Distance Dan – Keep Your Back Straight
Prefuse 73 – Holy Water
Concretism – 39 Furnival Street
Pye Corner Audio – Deeptime
Manuel Göttsching – E2-E4 (MARIUS Rework)
Language Field – Plume
Steve Reich – 2×5: Movement 3 Fast (Vakula mix)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #20
Underground Housing Authority – Here I Am (DJ Food Edit)
Jem Stone – Cardiac Cadillac
Bsidewinsagain – Top Rock Plate Spin
Disco Experience – Special Disco Mix by Ben & Benny (DJ Food Edit)
Bsidewinsagain – B-Boy Break (feat. Bobby Corridor)
Lone Bison – Origin Story (Paul Cousins Mix)
Floating Points – Del Oro
Suzi Analogue – Can We! [Acid Techno Uziflip]
Reso – Henk
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #11
Prefuse 73 – Empath Lords
OSCOB – Дажьбо́г
Santaka – No Rivers Here
Broadcast – Colour In The Numbers
Jem Stone – Kaptain Karnival is Alive
Deadchannel9000 – Commuter Dub
2econd Class Citizen – Just Live
I’ve been following custom robot kit builder and designer Kallamity for some years now and he has recently taken on the enormous task of building and painting the legendary Five Star Stories Jagd Mirage Twin Towers figure. This is a design like no other, impossibly complex and gravitationally impractical, the top-heavy bot features a huge rocket pack with two towers (hence the name) protruding from the top that double its height.
Unbelieveably there were several different scales of this kit made and I was lucky enough to see one fully built and painted in a toy shop in Osaka once as well as pick up several books featuring the kit whilst on tour in Japan around 2000. The one Kallamity is building is the huge 1/100 scale version with over 500 pieces, all which have to be glued rather than snapped together like regular kits. As someone said in the comments: Difficulty Level: Insanity. Kallamity is a master builder who creates custom robots from scratch though and his method is to assemble the kit whilst adapting and strengthening the pieces as he goes, fleshing out parts that don’t fit with filler and sanding down rough edges.
Additional details are added to areas that don’t feature them on the kit so that it most closely resembles the original drawings and designs from the books. He then disassembles the kit and painstakingly paints each piece, masking out layer upon layer of detail, lastly adding deep line work in the gutters around the hundreds of parts. Watching just one huge piece being shorn of its masking layers takes minutes despite being sped up and edited. The levels of detail are mind-boggling, each piece is an abstract sculpture in its own right. Here are the three parts so far, the unboxing and showing of parts, the initial build and the painting of the rocket pack. Part four should be the main figure and I think he finished the kit three days ago, I’ll add it here once it goes up.
UPDATE: Part 4 – just one more to go, this is a stunning piece of work!
Just announced by Castles In Space – Jo Johnson – Let Go Your Fear – a beautiful album of mesmerising minimalist modular in an equally striking sleeve. When paired with the vinyl it just ticks all the boxes for me. I know some people have a problem with coloured/splatter/whatever vinyl but when the disc fits the artwork it creates a unison unlike any other, something we always try to do with the releases I work on for De:tuned, especially as the process is always random for each disc.
Jo was part of 90s band Huggy Bear and has been ploughing the electronic minimalism furrow for the last decade. During the long, 20 minute final track ‘Unfolding and folding’ there are points where the music seems to stumble, different tangents are tried in real time and the flow is temporarily lost. This is something you rarely hear on studio albums, these ‘mistakes’ would be edited out but Jo states that she wanted to ‘drop the perfection’ and left them in. It’s released August 9th and there’s loads of music to discover on her Bandcamp page if you enjoy this.
Another great example is the recently released Nick Taylor-designed Lone Bison 12″.
It’s fair to say that Peter Max put his mark all over popular commerce and culture in the 70s. One of the few commercial artists to fully embrace merchandising and recognise that he had a valueable brand, he was arguably better at it than Warhol and had ranges of stationary, puzzles, book, posters and clothing for sale all with his name emblazoned on them at one point. Here’s a selection of stuff I dug up on the web including magazine covers, cookery books, puzzles and a poster for Mary Quant.
The in store mix that Hannah Brown and I did last Saturday at Upside Down Records in Deptford is now up on their new Mixcloud – give them a follow.
Two sets from me, one from Hannah (her first slamming set didn’t record sadly) – all fully trackmarked.
There’s still a crate of my records for sale at the shop, with more joining them soon… Pay them a visit, one stop from London Bridge on the overground.
Track list:
Strictly Kev mix 1
David Essex – Rock On
Jack Wilkins – Red Tribe
Santaka – No Rivers Here
Spacetime Continuum – Flurescense
Special Request – That Wisnae A Microdose / Melon Farmer / Epsilon
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia – Obsidian (Organically Decomposed)
John Heckle – The 4th Dimension
Spiral Deluxe – The Cosmos
Caustic Window – Cordialatron
Murcof – Maiz
Akufen – Late Night Munchies
Luke Vibert – Everybody
Radio Slave – Dedication
Lalo Schifrin – Quiet Village
DJ Format & The Simonsound – Holy Thursday
Hannah Brown
Lonnie Liston-Smith – Expansions
Another Taste – Time Is On Our Side
Nu Genea – Disco Sole
Mildlife – Magnificent Moon
Phantom Handclap Band – Judge Not (Ray Mang remix)
Vivian Vee – Alright
Pleasure Pool – Ask Your Body
The Units – High Pressure Days (Todd Terje remix)
Talking Heads – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Brother Resistance – Dancin’ Shoes Rapso
Surprise Chef – Crayfish Caper (Nuyorican Broken mix)
Strictly Kev mix 2
Martina Topley-Bird – Soul Food (Charles Webster’s Bangin’ House Dub)
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Beat Foundation Liquid Lustre mix)
Tin Man – Flip
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Padappella)
Four Tet – Peace For Earth
Sam Clarence – Sextant Daktari
Unknown – Beam Me Up (Creative Use)
Bon Voyage – Ils Disent Que L’orient Est Rouge
Chicago Housing Committee – Six Million Dollar Acid
Rockers Revenge – Rockin’ On Sunshine
D Train – You’re The One For Me (Dub)
Renegade Soundwave – The Phantom
Marshall Jefferson present Truth – Open Our Eyes
Baby Ford – Fordtrax
Cabaret Voltaire – Easy Life
Mr Lee – I Can’t Forget
S’Express – Mantra System
Frank K (feat. Wiston Office) – Everybody Lets Somebody Love
Sueno Latino – Sueno Latino
I turned up a really interesting load of tapes at Revolution Records in Penge, South East London the other week – pay them a visit, really good shop, only open a couple of years now. The collection was obviously from someone who worked in the dance music industry in the 80s and 90s and received a lot of promos. I think I’ve worked out who it was but not had confirmation yet.
In amongst the haul was an early DJ Rolando mix, a Trax sampler with forthcoming tunes like Can You Feel It, We’re Rocking Down the House and No Way Back plus a megamix that I’m not sure was ever released.
UPDATE: I saw Rolando had found a copy of his tape via his Instagram but the wrong tape was in the case, he’d done a call out for anyone with a copy so I sent it to him. Here’s the full mix on his Mixcloud, ripped from my cassette copy.
A sealed De La Soul Stakes is High sampler, a Disco Mix Club previews tape from early ’83 that’s not on Discogs and a Sugar Hill compilation of early 80s street soul that I can’t find either.
At one point in the Megamixers tape it cuts into two Beastie Boys demos from Licensed to Ill – the acoustic version of I’m Down and a version of Time To Get Ill that’s different to any of the other demos on the web, also a hissy recording of Run DMC’s original version of Slow & Low – nice. I might put some of these up on my Mixcloud Select at some point seeing as there’s still quite a few subscribers.
There’s early house music comps, an official Streetwave tape and some recordings of Rick Davis playing at Regals in Uxbridge and the Theatre, Wandsworth from the 80s and 90s complete with some very of-it’s-time on the mic shout outs, dedications and such.
You can now contact Wow And Flutter and order one of the remaining unique New Obsolescents albums via the web rather than going into the shop in person.
Contact them if you’re interested in a copy, wherever you are in the world and they can calculate postage and payment, link above or email at the bottom of the image.
More photos found on an old disc; from that time I played at the Supersonic festival in Birmingham alongside The Bug, Coil, LCD Soundsystem, Kid Acne, Req, V/Vm and more. Above, a young Kid Acne, below, Edna soundchecking with Req-1 and Remark (I think?). Req live-painting 12″ sleeves outside and Lucy McLauchlan‘s Beat 13 plane installation. Lastly, The Green Man sculpture by Tawney Gray, just outside the main square where the festival was held.
This year’s Supersonic, now 21 years old, happens at the end of August over 3 days
More gorgeous live macro painting by Akiko Nakayama in the video for Floating Points‘ new single ‘Key 103’ from the forthcoming album, Cascade on Ninja Tune. There’s also another similar video I missed for second single, ‘Del Oro’, these really need to be watched on the highest definition you can manage to get all the detail.
After being interviewed for the Dust & Grooves site over a decade ago and interviewing Kieran Hebden for the first book I have been heavily involved in the follow up – Dust & Grooves 2 with creator/photographer Eilon Paz. Accompanying him on many trips around the UK to interview noted collectors like Andy Votel, DJ Format, Alex Paterson, Zoe Baxter, Trevor Jackoson and Tom Ravenscroft was a treat and I also conducted a transatlantic interview with old friend Eric San aka Kid Koala. The full book contains way more and clocks in at 650 pages, to be released this October alongside a reprint of the first D&G volume with a new cover and also available in a 2 in 1 slipcased edition.
Not only that but Paz also shot a second book in parallel; Portables, a visual history of over 200 portable turntables from around the world – the guy is a machine. Also available this October, you can find out more about all these and sign up to be notified once they are up for pre-order over at the Dust & Grooves site. There’s more in the pipeline to come too so sign up to stay in the loop.
Photos I recently rediscovered on an old disc from the UNKLE/Futura 2000 exhibition at the ICA in London, 2003. This was the artwork that became sleeve material for the Never, Never, Land album and surrounding singles, painted in panels and exhibited alongside various toys and ephemera for a limited time. A unique Futura Bearbrick figure was also produced for the show as well which I still have although I’ve bought and sold numerous FT2 toys over the years including the clear multi figure set and the Pointman action figure seen here.
Show #4 tracklist July 2024
DJ Food – Electric Collage #40
T the Human – Tune In
Suzi Analogue – Like GoGo ft. NappyNappa
2econd Class Citizen – Return To Yesterday
Bugseed – Macaroni
Kuja – Stoned Days ft. Bugseed
Deadchannel 9000 – Overload
DJ Food – Electric Collage #23
2econd Class Citizen – Know Less
Bugseed – Crystal Morning pt.2
Dokbrass – Labour of Love
Vanishing Twin – Afternoon X
Dr.Doppler – 10 00.dibz
Chilla Ninja – I revolve around science
Emperors New Clothes – Twister
Vanishing Twin – Marbles
Shankar Family & Friends – Lust
DJ Nio – Es Campur
DJ Food – Electric Collage #2
The Joy – Shine (Hyperphoria Mix)
Pye Corner Audio – On the Clock
The KLF – What Time is Love (Pure Trance) (Frenchbloke in 8T version)
Suzi Analogue – Watch Me Jump [AXIS Version]
Praise Space Electric – Diggin’ At The Dig In (Break Mix)-mastered
Captain Ring – Cock (Super Disco Fakes)
Santaka – 555
Pye Corner Audio – Chronos
DJ Food – Electric Collage #5
Concretism – Automated Teller Machine
Lion Chorus (Scene Two)
Broadcast – Follow The Light
Patrick Carpenter – What Monet Heard
(above) Acid Mothers Temple poster for their Holy Black Mountains Detour tour (below) A tribute to Skip Spence poster by Fez Moreno both courtesy of Neil Rice.
Mike McInnerney prelim poster for the Hoppy documentary screening at the Tabernacle recently (colour to be added)
Holy Man Jam Seven Day Venue original handbill by The Family Dog, 1969 – unsure the artist here.
February – March, 1967 at Filmmakers’ Cinematheque, New York – restored from a faded image found on the web, possibly from the Sterling Morrison collection (see Velvet Underground mentioned at the bottom)
Two Exorcism of the Pentagon Anti-Vietnam posters, 1967 – pink mandala designed by Peter Legeria, black and white by Martin Carey – more information on the event here
This one has been on the cards for a while, an extended Saturday afternoon in store at Upside Down Records alongside my partner in crime Hannah Brown. We’ll both be spinning randomly all afternoon while you browse the racks at South East London’s finest new used record emporium – Upside Down – brainchild of ex-Rat Records manager Philippe Giron as I’m sure you will know if you read this blog regularly.
I spoke to Rich Headland from Record Shop Stories about design, digging and a few favourite spots both in London and elsewhere.
Give his Substack a follow to view profiles of record shops around the UK and occasional interviews, I’ve already visited several shops after seeing his detailed profiles.
It’s July already – here’s 10 records that have been floating my boat recently, some fantastic club tracks full of breaks and twisted electronics from Reso, Kursa/Ben Pest, Suzi Analogue, ScanOne and MBM, psychedelia from Long Distance Dan and FSOL, 4th world jazz from Santaka and analogue ambience from Listening Centre and Concretism.
My next ROVR radio show drops this Friday July 5th at 2pm.