Dangerous Minds Dec 26th - 31st

My last round up of DM posts for this year!

Two seasonal mixtapes from Everett True
Dreadlock Holidays: Scotland steps to Mungo's Hi-Fi
Christeene returns and brings the filthy fire
Andrew Dubber's 'Music Journalism Is The New Boring'
My awesome 'Best of 2011' mixtape by The Niallist

See you all in 2012...

Christeene is back!!

With a SICK new video called "African Mayonnaise" - I think this is her best work yet, but we'll see how long it lasts on YouTube for...

Next Menergy - Mascara Massacre Ball Feb 11th!

Ho ho ho... HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

What's Santa got in his sack?

Dangerous Minds Dec 19th - 25th

DJ Dear Leader - dropping the bass with Kim Jong Il
'Pulgasari' - Kim Jon Il's Comsploitation monster movie in full (with subtitles)
Tim Minchin's "Woody Allen Jesus" - the song banned by British TV
'Excuse My Christmas' - it's the return of Jan Terri
More images form the Golden Age of HMV, Oxford St
Have yourself a Disco Christmas with Cut Chemist's 'Disco Is Dead' mix
Wylie's message to all the haters - 'Cheer Up It's Christmas'
Some CHristmas words from The Divine David

THE NIALLIST AKA download

Santa came early - look what he left:

COME AND GET IT

BEST.CAKE.EVER.

Dangerous Minds Dec 5th - 19th

The story of The Beatles as told by a four-year-old
Manuel Gottsching's 'E2-E4' was recorded 30 years ago today
'A Voodoo Christmas in South Norwood' - an alternative Xmas mix
Peaches covers 'Private Dancer' - and it's beautiful
Monster Movies: great live footage of 'The Can', 1970

ELECTROSEXUAL Discolition (Niallist RoboVogue Edit)

This is a re-edit/rework of the forthcoming Electrosexual single, which should be available in January. As the name would suggest it's all about throwing poses like a robot:

ELECTROSEXUAL Discolition (Niallist RoboVogue Edit) by theniallist

HOUSE MACHINE Acid Daze

Sketch-O-Matic

Our pal Bren O'Callaghan had a great idea the other week - installing a photo booth at his work, but instead of producing photos the booth actually contained an artist who produced sketches instead? And lo "Sketch-O-Matic" was born! Here's some sketches of me and Joe:

Gingerbread Men

Guess who?

Dangerous Minds Nov 28th - Dec 4th

RuPaul interviews Fred Schneider, 1985
'People Who Do Noise': a noise music documentary
Joyce D’Vision: the world’s first drag queen Joy Division tribute act
‘The Artist Formerly Known As Captain Beefheart’ - the complete documentary
Major anti-piracy campaign accused of pirating its soundtrack
Ticketmaster to ‘refund’ booking fees for all customers from 1999 to 2011
Don’t Need You - The Herstory of Riot Grrrl documentary

Hard Ton @ Legendary Children (Vogue Fabrics)

Well, after what feels like many years of internet correspondence, I finally got to meet the amazing Hard Ton at a gig in London last weekend. Hard Ton was performing live, while producer Mauro Wawashi followed up with an excellent dj set of late 80s and early 90s classic house. The night HT was performing at is called Legendary Children (which has a great music policy of vogue and bitch house) and the venue was the awesome Vogue Fabrics, right in the heart of hipper-than-thou Dalston, with a ramshackle but still relaxed atmosphere that is very refreshing for East London. Both the venue and the club night come highly recommended!

If you want more info on Legendary Children, visit their blog, which is full of treats. Like this DJ set from Wawashi (Hard Ton), check it out!

More pics of Joyce on Harry Hill

Joyce D'Vision on Harry Hill's TV Burp

We made it onto National PRIME TIME TV!!



This still all feels like a dream - but if you want more of the story, then check it out on Dangerous Minds.

Joyce D'Vision on May The Best House Win

Joe entered into the daytime TV reality contest May The Best House Win so he could get Joyce on the telly. It worked:



Unfortunately, despite stealing the show, Joe scored the lowest mark EVER in its history. John Waters would be proud.



What happened next really blew our minds though (posts on that after this one).

You can watch Joe making an old woman cry on May The Best House Win here (UK only I'm afraid): http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=290263

Dangerous Minds Nov 21st - Nov 27th

‘The Dick Knight’: a comic response to Frank Miller’s OWS tirade
Michelle Bachman - Lyin' Ass Bitch
Occupy Springfield: The best pepper spray meme pic yet
'Russia’s Full of Queers’: free benefit album highlighting Russia’s new anti-LGBT laws

RUSSIA'S FULL OF QUEERS comp

Cross-posted from DM, because it's a great cause and because I am featured on this comp:



Compiled by friend of Dangerous Minds Elizabeth Veldon, and available as a free download from the net label Black Circle, Russia’s Full of Queers is a 29 track album designed to highlight the abuse of LGBT people’s rights currently being passed as law in several Russian cities. Elizabeth says:

This album is a response to proposed laws in Russia that would outlaw any discussion of homosexuality, bisexuality or transgenderism.

The artists involved gave their tracks free and in many cases produced work to a tight (24 hour) schedule.

There is a wide variety of styles here from Harsh Noise through weird Jazz Cut-Ups to Hip Hop and Ambient.

We only ask that you sign the online petition against these laws and pass the word on.

Alone our voices are tiny, when raised together we can change the world.

You can sign the petition here, and you can download Russia’s Full Of Queers here.

New Haircut

Scott Gillespie did this and I am very pleased with it, it really brings out the silver:

Dangerous Minds Nov 15th - Nov 20th

Jean Jacques Perrey plays the Ondioline on 'I've Got A Secret' quiz show, 1960
Jean Jacques Perrey returns to 'I've Got A Secret' with Gershon Kingsley, 1966
Nile Rodgers' "Le Freak": music biography of the year
Ali Renault: lord of the doom-dance
'The Art Of Sounds' - terrific documentary on the French composer Pierre Henry
Punk the 1%: UK Uncut pranks Revenue & Cutsoms boss Dave Hartnett
Today is Transgender Day of Rememberance
Sonic Youth's last ever concert (possibly)

THE 2 BEARS Bear Hug (Niallist AcidHugMixx)

Much bear luv in the area - ACIEEED!



THE 2 BEARS Bear Hug (Niallist AcidHugMixx) UNMASTERED by theniallist

Dangerous Minds Nov 8th - 15th

Very quiet week for me on DM, but I'll be back in full force next week!

Larry Levan died 19 years ago today

(disco fans should check this out!)

CHIC live @ Warehouse Project

Following on from Friday's book signing by Nile Rodgers, Chic played at the Warehouse Project on Saturday night. Needless to say, we were there. Chic were awesome as per usual, even if the venue was not the best due to minor sound issues. It was my first time at the Warehouse Project, and it's pretty cool for a big empty warehouse space turned into a club, in the style of Fabric or The Arches. Chic were joined on stage at the end of the show by Manc guitar hero Johnny Marr who played on "Le Freak". Joe actually spotted Marr the night before at the book signing, but didn't think it was him, citing the commoness of Marr's haircut among a certain age of Manchester gentlemen. The Fast Show's lovely Jon Thompson was there too, which made me feel a bit funny inside.

Niall & Nile!

On Friday I went to a talk and book signing by the one and only Nile Rodgers. I got my copy of his autobiography Le Freak signed, and got my photo taken with the great man himself. What an honour!

New Niallist photo

From the Queens of Metal shoot at Kraak, photo by Craig Parker.

Queens Of Metal photos

Last Sunday we brought a few drag queens to Kraak for s photo shoot for Tranarchy's Queens of Metal party. Here's some of the best (including the first sleeve of the hastily formed band GASH, plus pics of Motley Sue, Pam Tera, Nine Inch Gail and Pete Loaf)):

November Menergy flyer

More sterling work by Mutate Design:

Drunk at Vogue pics

DAV was a blast! Let's do it again sometime soon:

Photos by Lee Baxter, more here.

Dangerous Minds Oct 25th to Oct 31st

‘Rock Lobster Guy’ dances like Zoidberg on crack!
‘The Tube’ 1983 NY clubbing special ft New Order, Klaus Nomi, Paradise Garage & more
Atari Teenage Riot ‘Black Flags’ - the first OWS anthem?
Download immortal Technique’s ‘The Martyr’ for free
David Lynch and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons discuss machines and technology

Drunk At Vogue TONIGHT!

I'm really looking forward to this! Tonight sees the first ever DRUNK AT VOGUE at Kraak Gallery, with house and disco form our friends James Sizen Bell (Terrorist), Greg Thorpe (Off The Hook) and local scene queen Thom Docking (though I am sure there will be MANY more queens there tonight than just her...).

Whatever Happened to Hip-House?

I posted this on Shallow Rave already, but it's gettin it's own post here too.



Sometimes I think hip-house is the best genre ever known to man - the perfect blend of old school dance sounds with rapping on the top. It was fast, it was funky and it was fun - the tempo of the music made the MCs concentrate on a different meter, one that was more rhythmic and inspirational rather than heavy and polemical. Both genres were new and exciting at the time, and fitted each other like a hand in a glove (lest we forget that house music originally started as a black, ghetto music too).

How could it fail? WHY did it fail? Was it something to do with a perception amongst the hip-hop communtiy that house was too gay? The fact that house came from gay clubs like Frankie Knuckles' Warehouse or Ron Hardy's Music Box perhaps didn't square well with the uber-macho posturing of rap. Or was it seen as too faddish? Perhaps a hangover from the "disco sucks" years and rejection of yet another hijacking of a black musical form by white folks?

Whatever the reasons, the music still kicks ass today - drop something like Tyree & Kool Rock Steady "Turn Up The Bass" or KC Flightt's "Planet E" on a modern dancfloor and watch them tear it up. Now that we have gotten past an era where hip-hop was alligned in direct opposition to house, where all these different sounds are now simply conceived of as "retro", younger crowds are more open to this music and respond to the upbeat, party vibe and the combination of simple key elements in a fresh, different style.

Here's a short documentary on hip-house from 1989 featuring pretty much all the key players in the game. Some comissioning editor somewhere obviously thought this genre was gonna break big! But you've gotta be glad that footage like this still exists to document a sadly forgotten scene:



BONUS!

Here's a clip of Fast Eddie performing "Yo Yo Get Funky" live for a super-square and uber-white show called "Nine Thirty" (this clip also features an interview with the legendary founder of DJ International Records Rocky Jones, sporting a bad-ass shellsuit):



BONUS 2!

Tyree Cooper and Kool Rock Steady "Turn Up The Bass" live on Top Of The Pops 1989 - I love this track, it's big in my box right now.

Halloween Pt 3 - Kurt and Lisa GET MARRIED!

Halloween didn't end with those parties, oh no - on Monday 31st our good friend Kurt Dirt got married to his fiance Lisa Aspin at a Frankenstein themed wedding do in Blackpool! It was a great day and an even better night:

An awesome time was had by all - congrats guys!

Halloween Pt 2 - Zombie Pride!

This year's Zombie Pride was THE BEST one ever! It was such good fun, it was very busy, and the costumes were immense. But hey, don't take my word for it... (pics by Craig Parker):
























The Spencer clan workin the door!







Jimmy Saville died on Saturday, so at the suggestion of Trash-O-Rama's Kirsty Bradley I made it my Halloween outfit:



I'm pretty pleased with this pic - I have truly captured the essence of the great man: