/// Blog /// AKA ALBUM /// Releases /// Remixxes /// DJ Mixxes /// Flyers /// Videos /// About ///

Friday 26 February 2010

Halleluwah Hits Mix 6 FULL



I've been asked to compile volume 6 of the ongoing mixtape series by Glasgow music shop Halleluwah Hits. It's done and dusted, and even though it's not officially out til next week, I'm posting here for my blog readers. It will be split into two parts, and co-hosted on both the Little Rock and Halleluwah Hits soundcloud pages, but for you lucky chaps and chapettes here it is in a oner: http://www.littlerockrecords.com/promo/HalleluwahHitsMix6.mp3

As you can probably guess, it's a lot of electro, from the weird and wonderful to the pop and disco. I'd also highly recommend checking out the other Halleluwah Hits mixtapes on their soundcloud page, there's some good sheet there y'all. And here's a link to the Halleluwah Hits website: http://www.halleluwahhits.com

WORK IT 2010



Long term readers of this blog will know that I've had a version of Missy's "Work It" kicking around for about 4 years. Well me and Julius Seizure have tarted it up for the new decade. It's gonna be on my next album "A.K.A.", along with most of the stuff I have been posting here lately (barring edits and remixes).


Work It 2010 w/ JULIUS SEIZURE by theniallist

Tuesday 23 February 2010

THE NIALLIST I Like To Dance ft Lexter Greene & Tori Fixx

And here's the other one. It's uptempo electro with me rappin, and features guest spots from these two guys:




LESTER GREENE & TORI FIXX

Yowsah! Some ACTUAL rappers on one of my tunes! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside... And these guys are GOOD - I'm hoping to do more with these two in the near future. This track also features a special shout out verse to all the best clubs in Glasgow.


I LIke to Dance ft LESTER GREENE & TORI FIXX by theniallist

Monday 22 February 2010

METATRON So Subliminal

Couple of new tunes finished off over the weekend. Here's the first one.



It's another dubstep-esque thing heavily inspired by Shackleton/Skull Disco. It doesn't really have a name yet so I'm going with "So Subliminal" á la the vocal sample. FYI that sample is taken form the extras on the re-issue CD of "Electric Lucifer" by Bruce Haack, when he was interviewed on Canadian radio. I know that little factoid just made your day! So anywaz, downlaod the tune from: http://www.sendspace.com/file/d7aapw.

Saturday 20 February 2010

FUCKNO Taster Pack

Here's a wee present for anyone who can be arsed reading this blog!



In April this year we will be releasing the sequel to NORAVE on Little Rock, and yep, it's gonna be called FUCKNO. So far we're looking at 30 tracks but I reckon it will end up being more. We have just sent out some mail shots to press about the album and put together a wee taster pack of the music that will be on the album. It's 8 songs in all, and it's available to download form this address: http://www.littlerockrecords.com/promo/FUCKNOPressTasterPack.zip
(or by clicking on the FUCKNO logo above).

And heres the tracklisting, with links to the acts involved. I'll post more info on the compilation in the not too distant future, including artwork and the full tracklist.

SELINI Thunder / Sun (live)
DR NOJOKE Sublimacy (Instrumental)
BLACKHEAD Nemesis
BLUE SABBATH BLACK FIJI Love Lagoon
KIDS ON TV Cockwolves (Yes Sir Idol Remix)
DAM MANTLE ft JULIE AUGERE Yoghourt
MIAOUX MIAOUX Hrvatski
TOKAMAK Untitled 1

Fuck knows if this is still active, but it's worth a try.

Friday 19 February 2010

ZOMBIE ZOMBIE play JOHN CARPENTER

Zombie Zombie play the music of John Carpenter (live), Mono, Glasgow Thurs Feb 18th.



Well, that was massively underwhelming. I don't know the music of Zombie Zombie that much (and I would be tempted to check it out), but tonight's show was pretty disappointing. I'd been looking forward to this gig all week, and I had asked myself the question "how could you go wrong playing the music of John Carpenter? So simple, so effective, how can you mess it up?". Well tonight I got the answer. By being really dull.

Of course, a huge part of this I guess is the fact that we do a Carpenter medley every Halloween, and I must say I think we do it better. I was prepared to be shown up by Zombie Zombie, but it didn't happen. The set felt sloppy and loose in a bad way, like they hadn't properly rehearsed it before. The keyboard player only played one note synth lines and didn't bother embellishing with chords or leads. And the drummer, while good, just felt a bit out of place. Surely by now anyone can tell that Halloween is in 5/4, so why bother playing a 4/4 beat underneath it? I see now that the show was "commissioned" by the Glasgow film festival, which makes sense. I thought this might be a passionate side project for the band; instead it feels like something they were offered too much money to do to refuse.

On a brighter note though the support act were excellent! It was Findo Gask doing a special tribute to the music of Yellow Magic Orchestra. I think their performance might have added to my disappointment with the headliners. They came as five, they had matching outfits, and they were tight - all of which can't be said of ZZ. We were most impressed by their range of synths too - upon arrival we assumed they were Zombie Zombie's. We should have known better.

But then who the fuck am I to judge? Make up your own minds! Both of the sets from the night are now up on Sub City radio to listen to and enjoyed/loathed.

Zombie Zombie play John Carpenter:
http://subcity.org/podcasts.php?id=419

Findo Gask play Yellow Magic Orchestra
http://subcity.org/podcasts.php?id=413

Thursday 18 February 2010

BIGG NUGG ft LESTER GREENE SexyMF (NIallist OneGoodFuck + DubbMixx)



Happy Fridizzle!

More hawt off the press action - this time it's a bangin' electro-frog-house remix of BIGG NUGG's Sexy Motherfucker featuring the one and only LESTER GREENE. So it's got rapping on it - kinda like hip-house for the 21st Century but in a heavy-metal-disco style. Think Justice making out with In Flagranti. And all the homo heaviness that implies. http://www.sendspace.com/file/yjr13g




BIGG NUGG ft LESTER GREENE Sexy Motherfucker (Niallist OneGoodFuckMixx) by theniallist

WARNING! This track contains extremely explicit lyrics that are totally teh gay. If you're a pussy, or one of those boring "no singing in my set"-type DJs then as a special bonus here's the instrumental:


BIGG NUGG ft LESTER GREENE Sexy Motherfucker (Niallist OneGoodDubbMixx) by theniallist

Wednesday 17 February 2010

MENERGY TONIGHT!

It's MENERGY tonight! So I am reposting an old mix called Super Macho that reps the kind of thing i will be playing. IE super gay disco and hi-nrg. If you're in Glasgow and you're not scared of queers and trannies you should come, it will be a lot o fun! Click on the image for the mixx.




DISCO CONNECTION Born To Be Alive
FLEXI COWBOYS Domination Instrumental
AVALANCHE Travelling (Space)
X-RAY CONNECTION Replay (Space Mix)
PET SHOP BOYS It’s A Sin (Disco Mix)
X-RAY CONNECTION Replay (Special Freak Mix)
TAFFY I Love My Radio (USA Mix 86)
SUZY Can’t Live Without Your Love (Double Dub Mix)
MAN TWO MAN Who Knows What Evil (Nightmare Dub Mix)
LIME Angel Eyes
CAMARO’S GANG Ali’s Shuffle
CYBER PEOPLE Void Vision
ALISHA Beat All Night
FANCY Play Me The Bolero (Dub)
GINO SOCCIO So Lonely
RONI GRIFFITHS That’s Rock’n’Roll

http://www.littlerockrecords.com/discopia/SuperMachoMix.mp3

CITI Roller Disco (Long Edit)

In my haste to round up my work of last year I forgot to mention any edits I had done. Not that there were many. I did a couple for some Little Rock releases, another Stereolab edit, and an edit of Citi's "Roller Disco".



It was made to celebrate the charity fund-raising Roller Disco event held by Project Ability last August here in Glasgow. It was a really great night, though I only got about 10 feet in a pair of roller blades before deciding I didn't want to break my neck. The music on the night was great, it was mostly disco (though not as campy as Citi), the visuals by Pointless Creations were fab, and there was some eye popping fashion on display. You can download Roller Disco from this link: http://www.littlerockrecords.com/discopia/RollerDiscoLongEdit.mp3

Tuesday 16 February 2010

STEREOLAB Interlock (Disco Edit)



Here's the other Stereolab edit I mentioned in the post below. It's an extended version of "Interlock" from the album "Fab Four Suture". It's more uptempo than "One Finger SYmphony" and is definitely very groovy baby. Here's the link: http://www.littlerockrecords.com/discopia/InterlockEdit.mp3

Monday 15 February 2010

STEREOLAB One Finger Symphony (Disco Edit)



I've just finished a re-edit of Stereolab that's taken me about a year. Not that it was epic work or anything but I just kept getting distracted. So I finally got my finger out tonight and you can download it from here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/oy7f6h
The track is from their (sob!!) last album Chemical Chords, and will also appear on my upcoming mixtape for Halleluwah Hits - more news on that very soon.


STEREOLAB One Finger Symphony (Disco Beard Edit) by littlerockrecords

Sunday 14 February 2010

Sex'n'Drugs'n'Rock'n'Roll

I went to see Sex & Drugs & Rock'n'Roll, the Ian Dury biopic last week. What shall follow is my critical interpretation of the aforementioned film, my deconstruction of the central performance and my views on the socio-political implications of said film in a wider cultural context.





First let me emphasise - I fuckin love Ian Dury. He is a huge inspiration and influence on me. As a person and a performer he represents the kind of complex, unique character we just don't get in pop music these days. Would he get through the opening round of X-Factor? Would he fuck. Is this a good thing? Absolutely. He did it his way and he took it to number one. Literally - check out "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (one of my all time favourite tracks, like, ever) live on TOTP below. The character of Ian Dury was defined by no-one but Ian Dury himself (and some unfortunate mitigating circumstances).





Unlike the never-ending piss stream of crap pop muppets we are served up in modern times, there's no whiff of stylising-by-commitee to Dury. In fact, those corporate pop-commitees would have rejected him outright simply because he lived with a disability. Cos nobody finds cripples attractive, yeah? Ian fought against all kinds of odds to make it, which made his success all the sweeter, and offers hope to anyone whose talent outweighs their desire to conform.



As for the Blockheads, where can you start? In my humble opinion, this is the closest the UK has ever gotten to the big band funk all-star groups of the states, like the JBs or Parliament. Yes they really are that funky. And while it's obvious they are influenced by American funk, soul, jazz and disco, they could only possibly have come from one place, that being North London of the mid-to-late 70's. Ian didn't try to ape his American peers, and that made him even stronger. Here's "What A Waste" for proof:





OK, onto the film. I felt drained when when the lights came up and we left the cinema, and it took a few days to process the film. It's fast-moving, funny and incorporates elements of spoken word, musical hall performance, animation, and live concert footage. But even though I enjoyed it a lot, I had my reservations and it took me a while to work out. Looking back Matt nailed it on the head when he mentioned that Ian Dury was much better looking than Andy Serkis. So, at the risk of sounding shallow, why should that matter?



Well, Ian Dury was a complex, self-created character. He took a set of random factors that effected his life and moulded the image of "Ian Dury" out of them. He HAD to create his own image, his own niche, because he was subject to disabilities that should have excluded him from being a successful pop music performer. And those disabilites, and his overcoming of them, have defined his character ever since (while also making him an inspiration to lots of other performers). But they weren't ALL there was to the man - he had talent of course, but he had charisma to burn and he just outright looked iconic.



Unfortunately for Serkis the character of Ian Dury is now so well defined that it feels a bit too much like caricature to me. Andy Serkis' Ian Dury doesn't feel like someone to whom shite happens and whose fight against that shite defines him. Andy Serkis' take on Ian Dury feels like a retrospectively-approached "that's-how-the-character-was" performance, which strips the danger, difference and (most importantly) the self-definition from Ian Dury's "Ian Dury". For me this was one of the major failings of the film. We were never shown much of a "struggle" for Ian within the music industry (which must have seemed huge), his success seemed pre-determined. Of course, the audience knows he WAS a success even before we went in, but the cinema experience is all about suspension of disbelief.



And unfortunately for Serkis he just doesn't look as good as Ian did - he has the clothes, the make-up and the stance right but he lacks the handsome face that cemented Ian Dury as an icon. I know this is a pretty subjective point, that says more about me than the film, but I have to make it. And I know it makes me sound shallow, but it's got less to do with attraction and more to do with recognition and empathy. Like I said above, Ian Dury is one of my idols. However, one strange after-effect of S&D&RnR is that every time I think of a scene now I see Ian's face magically CGI'd onto Serkis' body, - I don't think Serkis would have a problem with that, and in my own strange way it is in fact high praise for his performance. In effect what I have problems with in the film are typical of any bipic made about anyone's favourite artist/performer/etc.



I don't wanna be too down on the film! It is very well produced and directed, making the most of the obviously limited budget, and at no point does the pace let up enough to get bored or distracted. The music is fantastic (of course) though it could have done with showcasing more of the funky disco pops (of course). And Serkis IS good - so good in fact that he's a shoe in for a Bafta. He will get nominated for an Oscar too I reckon, though he will lose out to Jeff Bridges for best male actor. He's destined for a best supporting actor Oscar someday though. I would highly recommend this film for the folks who know nowt about Ian Dury, and for the fans as well, but with reservation.





Writing in the Guardian Peter Bradshaw mentioned the possibility of this film getting turned into a stage musical, which would be great - it would let lots of other actors give their intrepetations of "Ian Dury" and of course it would be a great context for the man's excellent music to live on and inspire future generations.

And on a related note, there is currently a campaign on Facebook to get Ian's banned 1981 anthem "Spasticus Autisticus" the number one spot it rightly deserves. To see something which was comissioned for a cause so close to his heart get banned (by the non-disabled, overly cautious BBC) must have been crushing. In many ways the song is his masterpiece and I for one will be buying it in the week leading up to March 27th. Here's a clip which even features the chairman of the Spastics Society (the people who commissioned the song and chipped in to have it banned) saying he regrets his decision and wishes that somehow it could get to number one in the future. It can be done. We call that pop justice!



Friday 12 February 2010

TEXTURE Asphasia EP



Direct Download

Cross-posted from Shallow Rave, words by Liam Arnold.

Over at Black Lantern, Texture's Aphasia EP has just dropped and has been getting heavy rinsage from Little Rock already. Stalking through the shadows cast by spoken word, hip-hop, dubstep and trip/hop electronica, Aphasia worms its way into the hindbrain and whispers dark secrets in dissambled language; pop culture is chewed up and regurgitated, reference points subsumed into the twisting mass of electronics and verbal acrobatics. Of the four tracks, two instrumental, two with vocals, my personal favourite is Impact, which sees Texture joined by fellow Black Lantern operative Harlequinade, with Asthmatic Astronaut on beats. The balance between Harlequinade's apocalyptic intonations; "will the clocks all stop at the moment of impact? / will we lacerate reality when we tear off these masks?", Texture's abstract lyricism, and Asthmatic Astronaut's feel for classic hip-hop bounce makes for a compelling and powerful finished product.

The rest of the EP sees the third member of Black Lantern, Morphamish, co-producing. Those that heard the now-defunct Double Helix project, or Morph's own material (posted a while back), will know what to expect; slick, rich production values, dubby swathes and heavily compressed synths EQ-d to perfection. It's a synthesis that works well, it's surprising to hear such richly engineered sound on 'net label releases; previous 'Lantern releases Big Whoop and Riders On the Conquering Worm were brilliantly lo-fi, and abrasive noise-core respectively. It's also refreshing to hear Morph trying more laid-back, groove-driven production, in comparison to the beasting dubstep of Double Helix.

Aphasia's still not easy listening; Texture's abstract, bookworm approach to MCing demands a intellectual fascination with density and obtuseness of (this is for fans of Doseone and ELP, not Kanye and Fiddy), and with such a combination of influences, it's doubtless going to alienate straight-up hip-hop heads. However,as the first of a trilogy of EPs, and Morphamish's own channel set to launch on Black Lantern next month, we're sure as hell going to be paying attention to Black Lantern.

And if you don't like it?
"...when you question my theories,
I say up, up, left, right, star, down continue,
suck it up motherfucker, now the word virus is in you"
Fuck Yeah.

Thursday 11 February 2010

Alexander McQueen R.I.P.

About an hour ago I found out that the fashion designer Alexander McQueen has died. This is very very sad news indeed. It seems he killed himself, just a few days after his mother died, and a few days before his next collection is due to show in London.



I believe McQueen transcended fashion and should be viewed more as a conceptual artist. Even people who don't like fashion can surely appreciate what a master craftsman he must have been, and what an incredible imagination he must have had, to come up with the clothes that he did.

In my books he was a true visionary, and (not a word I use much) a genius - someone who consistently breaks new ground and does it better than anyone else could. For proof just look at his last collection, the 2010 ready to wear line. Influenced by marine life and with an underwater theme, it was apparently inspired by thoughts of what new human-hybrid species would emerge from the sea after global warming has flooded the planet. It's not Topshop. In fact it is so truly psychedelic it goes way way beyond the mere re-creation of an acid trip into something much more profound. Watch this and you might understand why his passing is so sad, and what a huge gap will be left in popular culture without him. Lee McQueen, you will be missed!



Saturday 6 February 2010

Music purchased January/February 2010

So here's a run down (in visual form) of the music I have bought in the last month. I have been buying less and less music in recent times, so this constitutes a splurge for me!









*








And all excellent they are too, at least what I have heard so far.
* only £3 in Fopp! Bargain!

Friday 5 February 2010

Little Rock Menergy Special



I did the Little Rock radio show the other night for the first time in ages. Three months I think? We got down Menergy resident Kid Zipper to spin some tunes, and me and Boag talked shit while I played some other tunes. It was good fun, it's the best show we've done in a while. Gotta love that picture too!

Niallist track list
Patrick Cowley – Menergy (Reprise) – Megatone
Mark Du Mosch – Now Or Never – Cyberdance
Azari & III – Hungry For The Power – I’m A Cliché
Ben Butler & Mousepad – Infinite Capacity – LOAF
The Paraffins – Something Good (Ben Butler & Mouse Pad Remix Edit) – Ear Spook
Tiga – Mind Dimension – Turbo
Walter Murphy – Toccata & Funk in D Minor – Valentino Production Music
The Dark Esquire – Situation 7 Mix – Thisisnotanext
Detachments - Flowers That Fell (Gold Blood Remix) – Thisisnotanexit
A Number of Names - Sharevari (Instrumental) – Strut
Simian Mobile Disco - Cruel Intentions (Greg Wilson Remix) – Wichita
Milton Hamilton – Crystalized – Strut
6th Borough Project – Planets (The Revenge Lost Groove) – Instruments of Rapture
A Made Up Sound – Sun Touch

Kid Zipper in the mix
Von Spar – Hybolt – Italic Records
Trus’ Me – Sweet Mother – Prime Numbers
Diskjokke – Cearadactylus – Full Pupp
Guit.ar – Love Started to Shine
Runaway – Black Lable Honey (TBL Remix) – On The Prowl
Donna Summer – Lucky (Horsemeat Disco Edit)- HMD 02
Dorothy’s Fortress – Silencer – Destroy All Planets
NCAM – Handle This – Mystery Meat Records
Luca Belloni presents Cellophane – Music Colours Part 3 – Cellophane 1
Lisa – Rocket To Your Heart- Carrere
Le Jete – La Cage Aux Folles – Megatone Records
Combi – Tangled – Combi 05
Messalina 4 – Big Brown Eyes (Easy Lee’s DJ Edit)- Messalina

Here's where to go to listen to or download the show. Leave us a comment!
http://radiomagnetic.com/shows/little-rock/menergy/

Monday 1 February 2010

A.C./I.D. 12" Launch Party

If you're in the Glasgow area you should come to this - it will be fun!