Heavenly Make 'Lost' Flowered Up Single Available For Free Download

Following the loss of Flowered Up frontman Liam Maher, his former label Heavenly Records have made the ultra-rare 'Better Life' single available for free download via Mediafire.

This distinctly reggae-sounding release (with occasional sonic nods to the slap bass and keyboard histrionics of Faith No More of all people) was intended to follow up the hugely-popular 'Weekender' but eventually slinked out in a 500 copy limited edition 7" release in April 1994, some time after the band had split.

In a parallel world this would have gone Top 10, but unfortunately this country was dancing to the tune of Doop and Take That during this single's short shelflife - there must be a better way indeed...

Download it here: http://bit.ly/4uhUHN

LIVE REVIEW: Efterklang perform Parades with the Britten Sinfonia

As the Barbican falls to a hush, the oboe plays its A and the rest of the Britten Sinfonia follow suit with the familiar, comforting and hall-filling sound of an orchestra tuning up. It's was at that point when it dawned on me that tonight could be very special indeed.

Having already performed their much acclaimed album of 2007 with the Danish National Chamber Orchestra (now a DVD and live album) and with the Britten Sinfonia, Efterklang were in a new comfort zone here. Rather than the band playing front and center -- with orchestra behind -- they assimilated themselves in amongst assembled throng of strings, brass and woodwind to become part of the orchestra, rather than a band backed by one. Leading from the front was conductor Paul Hoskins; from the back of the stage Efterklang front man Casper Clausen conducted his men and women -- a picture childish smiles.

Parades obviously lends itself well to being played with an orchestra, the album having strings and brass dappled over all its tracks -- a duty normally replicated live by Peter Broderick (violin), Niklas Antonson (Trombone and tap shoes) and Thomas Husmer (trumpet and drums). What lifted this performance above the obvious width of sound when replicating these songs with an orchestra was the arrangement itself. Stings doubled vocals while brass picked up on bass lines; strings were plucked, picked and scraped en masse to create a canvas of sounds that was part of the performance, not merely an accompaniment.

Even though the band seemed very comfortable in amongst the orchestra it did, I feel, take away from the energy you normally get from an Efterklang solo show. However, this was by no means a normal Efterklang show.

With Parades now performed in its entirety a number of times one can only think what influences this is having on one of the most inventive and stand-alone act of the moment. A new album is promised for the Spring. Those that were there had a little sneak peak during the encore. Glorious.

 

Efterklang & The Danish National Chamber Orchestra - Cutting Ice To Snow (live) from Leaf Label on Vimeo.

Restorative Justice Can Be Funny Too

I read with interest today that youth crime in Northern Ireland is being cut by having young offenders meet face-to-face their victims and that a similar scheme may be introduced for troublesome 10-17 year olds in England and Wales.

Hey, any attempt at rehabilitation is a good attempt - but how far will it go? Could this satirical sketch from 2001's "The Armando Iannucci Shows" actually become commonplace?




Knife Attack Reunion

REVIEW: The Last Dinosaur - Hooray For Happiness

The Last Dinosaur -- Hooray! For Happiness

Release date: 05/11/2009

Label: Dearstereofan / Luvsound

Early in the 20th century popular music was dominated by a collection of music publishers and songwriters, who operated under the moniker Tin Pan Alley. This collective was responsible for the lion's share of musical output of the era, with the performing artists themselves playing second fiddle to the men that pulled the strings.

Now, early in the 21st century, it could be argued that not much has changed. In a world infected with the X Factor, a flailing chart and an army of wannabes demanding their piece of Andy Warhol's oft-quoted prophecy, it is, once again, the producers and songwriters controlling the market we know as "popular music". And what do they do? If something works once, it'll damn well work again: Cher with her vocoder, Rihanna with her "ela-ela-ela" and so on. Even outside the world of pop, how many bands have cropped up that have been given a Libertines, Strokes or Joy Division gloss to their records? What the industry needs is a few DIY purists that can show what's achievable with a little effort, creativity and confidence. What the industry needs is The Last Dinosaur.

Hooray! For Happiness is a DIY record – like, “to the max”. This body of both intimate and widescreen work (more on that later) wasn't created on a Mac with endless tracks at its creators' disposal, it was made on a 16 track recorder. The album's liner notes detail the challenges at hand when recording an album under such constraints: just two microphones were all that could be afforded to the drums (one over head and one in the kick drum) and that the way around harmonies was to use a loop pedal. This admission isn't apologetic however, it's proud -- and rightly so.

Across 12 tracks The Last Dinosaur (Jamie Cameron & Luke Hayden) have managed to put together a record which defies coherent classification. Opening with Every Second Is A Second Chance, a thousand digital raindrops explode over and over again while, slowly but surely, a tribal drum fades into the foreground ready to play call and answer with the piano that follows it. It builds. A saxophone floats in the middle distance. The ebb and flow continues until it climaxes in a bombast of cymbals, guitars and euphoric vocal chanting. In this track alone you could throw comparisons such as Ólafur Arnalds, Broken Social Scene and Explosions In The Sky into the mix.

After six and a half glorious opening minutes we have, ostensibly, a post-rock album in our hands. Think again. Every Second... is followed by Fool -- which has proper vocals. "I'm a fool for you," repeats over and over as the chord progression repeats over and over; pianos, acoustics and bass drive the track in its infancy, its intimacy, while the just-more-than-a-breath vocal mantra loops. Falling over itself into second gear a string section lifts the track out of its intimacy into its grandiose conclusion.

It's this balance between intimacy and the epic that sits at the centre of Hooray! For Happiness; everything is measured and calculated. The loud-quiet-loud dynamic isn't exactly a new idea but its execution here is subtle.  Things build naturally. The same trick is rarely employed twice with all manner of guitars, pianos, strings, brass, vocals and percussion taking centre stage on varying tracks. The album takes turns into the hushed folk of Bon Iver (Be That Boy), the soundtrack landscapes of Sigur Ros (The Song Playing at the End of the Film of My Life) and the organic electronics of Fridge (The First Last Dinosaur Song) without ever losing focus or coherence.

An extra insight into this labour of love is the liner notes accompanying each track, giving a gimps into the each piece’s conception; The Greatest Film Never Made (an album highlight) was inspired by the documentary Lost In La Mancha about Terry Gilliam's still incomplete film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, the piano recorded using a 60's ribbon microphone “donated by a very generous older gentleman who would come into Blockbuster every Thursday.” Combine this with a series of video shorts to accompany each track and you have something which becomes more than just the album, it’s a package; a project.

When the Beatles recorded Sgt Pepper they used a four track recorder and still decided A Day in the Life was doable; there’s a lot to be said for creativity through limitation. The Last Dinosaur take this idiom and run with it by creating one of most refreshing, creative and inventive records of the year.

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You can listen to Hooray! For Happiness on BandCamp

Everybody Wants To Be A DJ...

For over thirty years crowds have rocked to the perfect timing and dynamic dexterity of the DJ.  From local kids wowing neighbourhood block parties with their bedroom experiments to gawdy, Hawaiian-shirted, mobile DJs juggling taxi arrival announcements with requests for the latest Shalamar `joint`, the DJ has successfully (for the most part anyway) kept dancefloors red hot while unleashing an array of quickhand-derived `crabs`, `flares` and `chirps` - always thinking a full three records ahead in his or her mind.  Sounds fun doesn`t it?

Now, after some years in development, the latest installment to Activision`s `Hero` series allows armchair gamers to step into a virtual DJ booth as one of the world`s most recognised turntablists.  Already released this Monday in the USA and on Friday, 30th October in the UK, DJ Hero is the latest in a long line of lucrative, rhythm-based console games.  This time plastic guitars and drum kits have made way for a state of the art wireless controller designed to look and operate in the same way as a turntable and mixer.  Just like in the massively popular precursor, Guitar Hero, players trigger beats and samples using three buttons and meticulous timing.  A further effects dial, crossfader and `euphoria` button (the equivalent of Guitar Hero`s `Star Power` mode) add the extra flourishes that will mark out a prospective Grandmaster Flash from a sizzling fondue pot of Tony Blackburns.  Interestingly, a new "rewind" mode can be earned allowing cyber-turntablists to replay a section fixing glitches and fine-tuning their mix.



 ORIGINS
DJ Hero has taken over two years to realise from its initial conception by FreeStyleGames.  Impressed, as thousands were, by the unlikely record combinations played out monthly at London`s legendary `Bastard` night at the Asylum, they approached club night organiser Mike Woods (who has achieved some fame as part of video mash-up collective Cartel Communique) to collaborate on new musical games ideas.  With access to a far-reaching group of young, tech savvy producers, Woods was able to assemble a talented team from those who regularly performed at the Asylum to contribute musical ideas towards the project.  One such talent is Julian Fenner, known to music circles as Jools MF.

"I wasn`t involved in the very earliest stages of the project when the prototype was in early development, at the time I was a civil servant!" he laughs. "By the time I became involved, there was a basic but playable build of the game, it was still in its infancy but the roots of what you see now were very much there.  In the early stages the music was more basic, at the point I entered we started to explore how a professional sounding turntablist-style mashup could be put together and made to work in game." 
"Josh and Don of Pirate Soundsystem are both full time members of the team and Poj Masta has recently joined us too although he’s been involved in some capacity for as long as me.  We`ve also worked with some bootleg people on an external basis, McSleazy, Dunproofin, Agentlovelette and Solcofn, they helped out with mashup ideas"

"There are also many people from outside the bootleg world involved too.  In the London studio we have DJ Blakey (2004 DMC champion) and a number of other producers from diverse musical backgrounds, everything from professional hip hop and drum & bass DJs/producers to Radio 1 DJs and guitar musicians.  We have a great spread of musical talents or background which is essential with a project where the musical scope is so broad."




THE MUSIC
Jools: "The gameplay / DJ style, is "turntablism", i.e. lots of scratching, cuts, and trickery.  The game is therefore very strongly influenced by hip hop DJing and the origins of mixing in this way but the modern Mashup / British bastard pop movement is [also] a strong influence.  It’s very much about  bold and interesting mixes and about genre clashes and not having any boundaries.   We didn`t want to make a "hip hop" game or a "house" game, we wanted to make a music game where everything was included and where no mix was too outlandish.   In a way it’s very hip hop in the original sense of the word, taking music from anywhere and everywhere and bringing it together but filtered through a 00’s “mashup” sensibility."

The "bootleg" or "mash-up" sensibility has for some time been synonymous with fun, cheekiness and the reappropriation of old favourites through sonic reinvention.  It is then a perfect ingredient for a game aimed squarely at the light-hearted "party" market such as DJ Hero.  A quick browse through the available mixes on the new game throw up such unlikely bedfellows as Gwen Stefani with Rick James, The Killers with Rihanna, Gorillaz with Marvin Gaye, Daft Punk with No Doubt and, you thought it`d never happen, MC Hammer with Vanilla Ice.

"It`s about joining the dots between music and being inclusive." explains Jools.  "A lot of people would probably expect a DJ game to contain only a few genres or for those genres not to overlap but we threw the rule book away in the true mashup spirit of things and didn’t allow ourselves to be limited.   Mashups allowed us to make the game about all music, not just dance and electronic music, you can put in really old music or stuff that would normally be quite out of place and make it work and breathe new life into it."





THE GAME
Following a similar path to Guitar Hero and other musical fame simulators, DJ Hero offers a lasting challenge in single player mode.  Like its predecessor, you have to work your way up to `Superstar DJ` status through a period of hard slog.  It`s not quite a case of lugging boxes of records from your clapped out Fiesta through the back door of a seedy club, nor is it providing `entertaining background music` for your neighbour`s barmitzvah, but don`t expect to be headlining your own massive beach party from the get go.

Jools: "You start off in your bedroom for the tutorial and then you get to choose from a group of vinyl covers representing challenges set around a specific DJ or type of music.  Once you successfully play though a set of songs you unlock the next set of challenges. As you unlock mixes they become progressively more difficult and the completed mixes become available in “Quicklist”: a custom playlist which lists songs by difficulty and can contain up to eight tracks.  The player gets a lot of choice here, you don’t have to follow one path, it’s also designed to allow the game to open up quickly and to give the player access to lots of content early on."
"The `Beginner` to `Medium` modes add new controls and `Hard` and `Expert` are about accuracy essentially so, once you’ve learnt the basic techniques, it’s about the intensity of the gameplay and how well you perform the actions.  For example, the crossfader is introduced in `Medium` and in `Expert` you have to match the up and down scratches in the music, before that you have to hit the gems [the brightly coloured moving objects which signal when you need to press your buttons] by moving the platter but the direction doesn’t matter. "

"Its similar to Guitar Hero in that respect.  In Guitar Hero you`re following patterns of guitar gems and in DJ Hero you`re following patterns of "DJ actions", scratches, crossfades, retriggers, samples, effects. The big difference with Guitar Hero is that you`re `playing the music` but, in DJ Hero, you`re playing the mix via the DJ`s actions.  Underneath it all, its about interacting with the music in a rhythmically connected way but conceptually its very different.  Being able to work in this way means we can design any gameplay we want via the remixes we create, it means level design is pretty much only limited by our imaginations and musical ability."

So there`s a lot more to it than just keeping two records in time?

"Absolutely," laughs Jools. "The player is kept on their toes!  No letting the record play and digging through the crate for three mintues and sipping a beer!"

THE LICENCE ISSUE
Rhythm games often live and die by their content.  A game may boast a most intuitive control system, totally immersing you in an interactive music experience but, if the user finds themself playing along to unfamiliar music created on an old Bontempi by "a friend of the programmer", the chances are it will fail.  In short, licencing the music for these games is as important, if not more so, than how you actually play it.  If you add hip hop egos and notoriously hard to placate major labels to the equation, you find yourself with a seemingly impossible mission ahead of you. 

Jools: "The secret to the licensing success was Activision.  The licensing task was monumental and unprecedented and it was down to being part of Activision and having the best licensing guys in the business involved that meant we got the songlist we wanted.  I don`t know specifics of licensing but, having worked closely with the Activision guys in Santa Monica, I know what a big task it was to clear these tracks.  I don`t think anything even close to this in scope and ambition had been attempted before.  It’s a gaming first.  Were there any that fell through the net that I wish had made the final game?  Amazingly we ended up with everything we wanted, we couldn’t have asked for a better songlist."



THE STARS
One of the most impressive, yet most contentious, additions to Guitar Hero 5 was the ability to unlock and play as "avatars" of famous guitarists.  This neat touch is carried into DJ Hero with a host of famous plate-spinners converted to pixels.  Whether this will lead to legions of fans "upset" that purveyors of cool Daft Punk be seen spinning DJ Yoda`s beat-driven Little Richard mash-up remains to be seen.

"As well as some really cool characters invented by the art team at Freestylegames, they`ve also created avatars for Jazzy Jeff, Grandmaster Flash, DJ AM, Z Trip, DJ Shadow and Daft Punk." enthuses Jools.  "All of the above DJs did mixes for the game as did Dj Yoda, The Scratch Perverts & J Period. Grandmaster Flash contributed mixes including one containing a record from his new album . Flash actually plays a very prominent role in the game, he`s the voice of the tutorial and has a really cool role in the intro movie."

A Jazzy Jeff avatar you say?  If a player is unsuccessful when playing as him will they make a spectacular exit thrown through the club door a la The Fresh Prince of Bel Air?

"Haha, indeed!" laughs Jools.  "I can imagine the Uncle Phil avatar right now!"

DJ Hero is released in the UK on 30th October 2009

Kraftwerk - Missing Robots

Kraftwerk are releasing a lovely boxset called 12345678 - The Catalogue. It’s filled with remastered and revisioned versions of the eight minimalist electronic classic albums. They've also released the albums individually with brand new artwork. Why Autobahn needs new artwork I don’t know but apparently it does.

Thing is there are absolutely no extras on any of them, and, unlike The Beatles, Kraftwerk have been very careful to make sure that all their previous works have been digitally remastered to true Kling Klang standards. So, what rarities are there out in the real world that they could have used to create “9”, the boxset's bonus album? Here’s a few selections for you to consider.

First up, how about the original seven inch single version of Autobahn? Totally unavailable on any officially released album this has only been available to collectors via bootleg cd’s providing scratchy versions taken from the old vinyl, or reconstrucions made up from official releases.



Or how about the original version of Kometenmelodie2?



Going onto album number two how about the French extended remix version of Radioactivity?



Actually, there are quite a few French rarities, here’s Mini Calculateur. It’s longer than some versions you may be more familiar with.



Maybe you’d prefer the German Version



Back to the French - original version of Mannequins, anyone?



Kraftwerk did loads of twelve inch versions. I didn’t know about this particular version of Computerwelt.



Having done many French and English version of their songs, they also did German versions of things they originally did in other languages. The most pointless? A German Tour de France - well a German only release of Tour de France. Any jokes about the last time the German’s toured France involved a World War are not appreciated and belong on a lesser site.



The flawed album is Techno Pop. It’s release was delayed by over three years and was given a new name (Electric Café). Now re-released under the original name the album continues to be revised. The full album version of Telephone Call has been replaced with the single version and a twelve inch version. But not this version



But how would you end “9”? Well, I guess you could either go with something pre Autobahn that at the same time showed the world where Kraftwerk were heading, a track like Kristallo, for example



But personally, I would go with this as a hidden cd-rom extra. Kraftwerk, the sit-com



Apparently both Karl and Wolfgang know about this viral and find it funny. I hope Ralf and Florian do, or we’ll be forced to use this…



…and we don’t want that know, do we?

In The City 2009 - Day Three

Things That I have Learned



Paul Hardcastle is still around and is recording under various disguises, one of which is The Jazz Masters, a smooth jazz combo that does particularly well in America. Their first album was released for Motown, flopped, and the second album was released elsewhere. It became an RnB number one album. Motown phoned him up asking him why he hadn’t given them that album. Well, he did offer…

If you get a room filled with internet pioneers, eight out of ten of them will be wearing intentionally geeky glasses. I don’t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.



Joe Cohen is the founder of Seatwave, a ticket exchange site that looks better than Scarlett Mist but without the desire to prevent ticket touts (hey, the community should stop them) or selling tickets at face value only. He is a great fan of Deepak Chopra, the lifestyle/business guru brilliantly lambasted by Francis Wheen in his books and columns. In fact I blame Wheen for making me suspicious of anybody who follows Chopra. Sorry Joe…

Alex Ljung (founder of soundcloud.com) doesn't buy cd's, but he does enjoy collecting vinyl.

Want to get on Hype Machine? Don’t bother asking until you’ve set up your blog and regularly post stuff for at least three months. Keep posting those tracks and build your fan base. Do not post full albums. Then ask. Hype Machine link to over a thousand blogs and they can afford to be picky about who they monitor.

Funny, Hype Machine clearly links to tracks that shouldn’t be available. They should be the baddies that Sony are going out of their way to close down. And yet they don’t. Is that because Hype Machine are now closely linked to I-tunes and between 10-20,000 tracks are purchased via their site every week? It’s almost as if there is something behind the theory that if you work well with your target audience and don’t worry too much about illegal downloading you can build enough trust to make people buy your stuff anyway.

Another example. The most popular Moby track sold on I-tunes is also the one you could download for free on his website.

During the last Nine Inch Nails tour Trent Reznor sent out a tweet offering a thousand tickets for 800 dollars each where fans could have dinner with him and the band. All the money raised from these tickets would go to charity. They were sold within an hour. Trent made more money on the deluxe version of his last album than he did on his last official release via a major label. He also gave away the album for free. It’s almost as if there is something behind the theory this if you work well with…

Sean Adams is gay for Trent Reznor.

Andrew Collins can do a pretty decent Bruce Forsyth impression just by talking normally.



The last time John Niven came to In The City (back in the late nineties) he spent three days in a hotel room doing coke and refusing to go to any of the events. He did that in the company of a now important employee at Sony. I am not saying which important employee of Sony.

Pete Frame’s Rock Family Trees are back! The Family of Rock is a new organisation dedicated to expanding on Frame’s original rock family trees. The driving force behind this are the producers The Boilerhouse Boys. Expect more soon.



Here is a picture of Pete Frame sitting next to Peter Hook. Do you think they were made to sit next to each other or did they work out the pun themselves?

Peter Hook still loves Bernard Sumner. One of the proudest moments Hook ever had was when New Order snuck into a Spandue Ballet gig in Paris. Hook was watching from the side of the stage thinking “This is shit.” He then noticed water hitting Tony Hadley. He followed where the water was coming from and spotted Barney, cock in hand, pissing on the band from the rafters. He will never stop loving Bernard Sumner.

There will be a sequel to Peter Hook's Hacienda book. It will concentrate on Joy Division. The idea is to make a trilogy of books, with the final one concentrating on New Order and beyond.

DJ Edu has one of the best shows on 1Xtra and you should really take time out to listen to it.



If you get a very earnest moderator a talk about the African music scene can be very boring. Thankfully the right panellists can prevent that from happening.

The problem with the way African music is perceived in the UK can be perfectly shown by using the example of Guy Morley and African Soul Rebels. Fair play to Guy for attempting to create a show where the cream of Africa play in the UK. But why play The Bridgewater Hall, home of the Halle Orchestra? Why not The Warehouse Project or The Apollo Theatre? You know, places where you can dance or mosh. Don’t you end up putting people off who otherwise may have enjoyed it and just get the type of people who think they are clever and superior to others? You know the type, buy vintage clothing and only shop in ethical stores. Twats. Get African rock bands to play rock gigs and leave the snobs to muse on their organic ham and shitty art exhibitions.

Under the right set of circumstances, you can’t help but like Johnny Jay (local music entrepreneur) and John Robb.

The Most Aptly Named Band Award Goes To

The Ray Summers



Brilliant Scottish group who make west-coast psychedelic tinged rock stompers that remind you of good times and the better bits of The Super Furry Animals and Idlewild all rolled into one. Singer looks a bit of a twat, but what can you do?

The “Seriously, Are Front Magazine Trying To Groom Teenage Girls?” Award Goes To

Front Magazine and The Futures



Front Magazine is a porn mag for cowards. It specialises in trying to get teenage girls to appear in their mag with less clothes on than they would wear on a average night out. For this they give the girls a relatively tiny amount of money and the hope that they will get better paid jobs later or fuck a footballer or a DJ or something. To aid them in their hunt for girls of a certain age/mentality Front sponsor nights where perfectly decent pop-metal bands play perfectly acceptable pop-metal songs to a mainly female, teenage audience. The music is fine, but isn’t the concept dangerously close to paedophilia?

The “Ah, So Not All UK Hip Hop Is Good” Award Goes To

The Real Dolls

Hm. Ah well. Maybe they’ll go pure pop and make a record as good as Junior Senior. Their DJ was good, mind…

The “I Bet They Sound Much Better On Record Than They Do Live” Award Goes To

Taxi Taxi!

Two twin sisters, harmonies, sparse instrumentation, songs. Pity they were a bit out of time with the harmonies and the whole songs bit. But I bet on a good day and in a studio they sound fantastic.

The Late Eighties Weren’t A Completely Terrible Time For Indie Award Goes To

The Dutch Uncles



They may list their influences as being Steve Reich, Talking Heads and King Crimson in the little black book you get given as a delegate, but they equally fit in with the music of The Fall and The Wedding Present. Good. The less Manchester bands that sound like Oasis or Elbow or Doves the better. Don’t get me wrong, I love Elbow and I love Doves- I just don’t want them to be the new template that all Manchester bands clone themselves upon. Give me Egyptian Hip Hop and this lot anytime. To some they may be marmite bands, but better a thousand marmite bands than one more Pizza Express band that makes you happy in their familiarity.

The So Good I Stayed For The Whole Damn Set Award Goes To

Asakusa Jintu



Just phenomenal - although fans of punkskapsychobillyhippieeastend Japanese bands may tell me that they aren’t the best in their field. If so tell me more. Their may be a video for this perfomance appearing on line very soon…

The I Can’t Be Bothered With Award Goes To

The Heartbreaks

See The Dutch Uncles rant and concentrate on Oasis. And think Northern Uproar.

The Last Photo My Camera Took Before It Died Award Goes To

Tigers That Talked



So I don’t have a better photo. Sorry. Now, given the rant I had above about Elbow clones, you may not expect me to fall in love with a band that are described in the lbb as “hints of The Cure, Elbow and Ryan Adams influenced as much by Ennio Morricone as they are the ramshackle folk of Arcade Fire.” You would be right. But they are worth more of your time and further investigation.

The “Sadly I Didn’t Get To See” Award Goes To

The Drums
The Nacional
Beatbox Fozzy
Jessica 6
Kong
Rogues
Mount Kimbie
White Sunday
Killaflaw
Your Twenties
Lost Knives

And loads of others. But I’ve heard demos and other people went to see them and so should you! Go out, support bands and enjoy them while you can. The scene is more diverse and interesting than ever, go and find it.