I went to Pride here in Manchester a few weeks ago too - well it is kind of my duty, isn't it? I managed to get in on the blag (thanks again Joe!) as I really couldn't be arsed to pay £17 just to walled in to the village. I will write about that in another Manchester Calling post soon. I did get to see the Divine David performing at Club Brenda, and I managed to see Kelis live, which was great:
I uploaded the entire Disco Beard back catalogue to sendspace for someone to hear about a month ago - so if you haven't got any of this music now's your chance! Not sure how long more it will last up there, so if you want it grab it now. It's comprises the Beardism album, the Beardiality EP, and a couple of previously unreleased edits. So you get Giorgio Moroder, Bonzo Dog Band, Musique, Donald Byrd, JJ Cale, Claudio Simonetti, Stereolab, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Rapure, Annie, Citi, Earlene Bentley, Clifton Dyson, Richard T Bear, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip, Divine & Daft Punk. Click the pic above. Here's Stereolab's "One Finger Symphony (Re-Edit)":
IDJ Magazine also sent through a list of questions for DB to answer for their special "Beards" edition. We don't know yet if this ever got used, but here are the answers in full:
You can’t tell me who you are, but are you known to the music world in your regular lives?
DB1: Not really - or maybe we just want people to think that.
DB2: Um, yes, in a word.
Disco beards: an institution since Mancuso. Do you have beards yourselves? Who’s got the best beards in dance music?
DB1: Well, Mr Mancuso has set the template of course, he's rocked a beard since the early 70s. However the term "disco beard" started off as being derogatory - it meant a beard that was too well kept, not scruffy enough to be seen as truly "macho" or a rebellion against shaving. That was in the disco era, and it has a slightly homophobic undertone. Since then everyone from Danny Krivit to Balearic Mike has grown a beard, as a symbol of being musically "serious", which is kind of ironic!
DB2: We have been known to sport facial hair, yes. And we haven't seen it in a while, but Conrad Idjut Boy has had some proper gnarly bird's nest beards over the years.
DB1: Personally, I consider ZZ Top to be dance music, so I would have to go with them.
You’ve got a tongue in cheeky attitude to the tracks you’ve chosen to edit… Tell me a moment when you’ve surprised yourselves at the success/outcome of your editing.
DB2: "Surprise" hasn't really been an outcome, cos we only begin with tracks we really like and know we can edit.
DB1: I'd say the edit of Giorgio Moroder's "Utopia - Me Giorgio", as I could listen to that track for ever and ever!
DB2: Funnily enough that was the first track we ever edited...
And tell me a tune that just can’t be edited
DB1: Hah, not being able to edit a track hasn't stopped some people in the past! We've got a pretty old-school approach to editing tracks - for instance, we won't add anything to it that's not already there, because technically then you are creating a new version, you're not just editing the original. I mean fair play to Erol Alkan and Optimo and the like, but we're a bit more choosy about the terminology.
DB2: Yeah we like to keep it to the basics - as if we were editing tracks on a reel-to-reel tape like Greg Wilson or Danny Krivit or whoever. Sometimes the reaction to this can be funny, like "This sounds the same as the original!?" - um, it's a re-edit, what did you expect?
DB1: In terms of not being able to edit a tune, that comes down to the arrangement already being perfect. There's a track by Duke Ellington from 1920 we've got that is incredible, with a big dubby bassline and a swung 4/4 beat, and we've been thinking about editing it for years. However, the more we listen to it the more we reckon it's already perfect, so why bother?
DB2: Yeah, but we'll still probably have a go!
Does keeping your identity secret cause you problems getting gigs?
DB2: Well, Disco Beard wasn't started to get gigs, it was to make certain tracks more playable in clubs.
DB1: Yes, and to create new versions for the gigs we already had.
Beardism was released a while ago… can we expect another album?
DB1: Hmm, not in the near future, but it's not out of the question.
DB2: It depends on work really, and if we get the time off to do it. Cos it's all non-profit, it can take a back seat sometimes. Also, some tracks we would like to edit often get edited by other DJs before us. Todd Terje is a good example, he's pipped us to the post many times! :-)
DB1: Having said that, we do occassionaly do new things for friends - like the Niallist asked us to do an edit for his new night Menergy. We decided to edit Richard T Bear as we thought Niall would appreciate the bear reference!
DB2: Yes, and we all know that bears love their beards.
DB1: And the men who wear them.
Have you had any legal scrapes yet or have you managed to stay under the radar?
DB2: We've been under the radar so far... wait, what's the circulation of IDJ?!
Tell me about your next release…
DB2: There's nothing planned as Disco Beard unfortunately, but you never know. Although Little Rock do still have a few old things of ours that have never come out, so some of that might see the light of day.
DB1: And there has been very vague chat about doing a one-sided, limited vinyl run of Utopia - Me Giorgio for the relaunch of the Discopia site, but there's nothing definite there.
DB2: Yeah, we have been discussing this because the whole point of giving these tunes away for free in the first place is that we don't own them. We know a few label owners who have been screwed over by illegal re-presses of tracks they were trying to re-issue legally, and that's pretty snide. So we don't wanna add to that.
DB1: Discopia's a great site though, so that would be a good cause we think. It would be more a one-off than a series like Automan or whatever.
DB2: Anyway, we will have things out under other names. Unless we get busted for this!
IMO Arthur Baker has the best disco beard - because it walks the line of being actually a disco beard (neat, trimmed) AND a muso beard, all the while being totally woofy:
From the Facebook event page, I am quite happy with this. :-)
Did you have a brain tumour for breakfast?
Does your teen angst bullshit have a body count?
But most of all, are you a Heather or are you a Veronica? ... This September Menergy are killing off Lock Up Your Daughters in a fake suicide pact and bringing you a very special party - come join the Swatch dogs and diet Coke heads to celebrate the greatest high school film of all time!
It'll be very!
Residents Kid Zipper & The Niallist will be joined by special guest DJ TEAMY (Wrong Island, T&A), with a thermal-pack of Hi-NRG, Italo and disco downstairs, while mega-bitch Lady Munter hosts the petition to blow up the club - oops, we mean to get Big Fun to play! Meanwhile in the backroom Kurt & Ram AKA Spill will have more to offer than date rave and acid rock.
It's so '87.
Our damage is only £5, but if you can prove your name really is Heather then you can get in for free - it's better than boning away on your neighbour's swing set! So don't become a statistic in USA Today, lock your paws at the Flying Duck on Friday 17th September, doors open 11pm. Anyway, we better motor if we wanna get ready for that funeral...
We fuckin LOVE Heathers at Menergy - the film, not the people (though they are pretty cool too) - so much so in fact that our next event is going to be a Heathers Party at the Flying Duck on Friday September 17th.
So why do we love it? It's funny, it's dark, it's sexy, it's classy and it has one of the best screenplays ever. EVER! Winona Rider and Christian Slater are both dynamite - the chemistry between them is so electric we assume they were a couple at this point - but the script is the real star. It shits on Tarantino in terms of delicious quotability, and has added so much new terminology to the modern lexicon as to be postively Shakespearean. Oh yes! "What's your damage?", "How very", "fuck me gently with a chainsaw"... the list goes on and on. It's the best written teen/school movie of all time!
And if you have not seen Heathers before - well, did you have a brain tumour for breakfast?! Get your eyes and ears to Youtube and clear the next 90 minutes of your life - you'll be glad you did!
A few weeks ago Che Camille had their debut fashion show at Edinburgh's Fringe Festival. Both Lady Munter and the Niallist performed as part of the show, to some RAVE reviews no less! Fashion blog Bee Wait For No One had this to say: "It really was the extra touches that really set this apart from other fashion shows on the fringe. The Niallist performing "Rock the Shop" was pretty magnificent....and I can't lie, a wee cheeky Ru Paul reference from the uh-mazing Lady Munter (YOU BETTER WORK!) kind of made it for me." Read the rest of the review here.
For more photos (and info on the show) check out the Che Camille website. With 14 designers and 10 models involved, it was truly epic, and as usual Camille pulled it off with aplomb. The show was streamed live over the internet, and you can watch it in it's entirety right here:
Sunday's fashion show by Che Camille (at the Edinburgh Fringe) was streamed live on Usteam, and has been recorded for posterity. You can watch it here - I perform Rock The Shop at about 48:00. The sound quality is pretty dire though, so best to just turn it off. It was an epic show (2 x 90 mins, 14 designers, 10 models) with a fair amount of stress, but it all worked out very well in the end.
Forgot to post this here the other week - originally on Shallow Rave. Natch.
Listen online, stream and download the Little Rock podcast every week on Radio Magnetic from the people behind Little Rock Records and ShallowRave.blogspot.com.
I went to see Toy story 3 yesterday - suffice to say that I loved it, even the evil Lots-O'Huggin' Bear. All he really needed was somebody to love. Awww. Fans of the first two films will definitely like it, and there's quite a few genuinely moving moments among the stunning animation.
What makes me write this post however, is the work of the NY Press film critic Armond White. Mr White is taking a lot of pelters online at the moment for writing deliberately "contrarian" reviews where he hates films that everyone else loves, and vice versa. So much so, that there is a campaign to get his reviews banned form the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. He also gets quite ranty about non-professional online film criticism and how it cheapens his work.
Personally I don't think he should be banned from Rotten Tomatoes - opinions should be allowed to be expressed on the internet, contrarian or not. I think a quick read of some of Mr White's very badly written (and thought out) reviews should be enough to discredit him from the film review community, whether online or in print. Case in point:
I spent a day in London last week recording vocals with the wondeful Shunda K of Yo Majesty. That girl is fast, professional and very talented! We worked on a version of I Came that is sounding shit hot, hopefully we will have some male input on it too from a rapper we both know. Shunda's a great MC and I look forward to working with her again in the future. In the meantime, here's a remix I have done of her next single "I'm Da Best", and a dub version of that mix too.
My House Machine gig for Men & Machines was great fun. The audience seemed to get it, which is cool, as last minute problems with my set up meant that I had to abandon the laptop and just use both groveboxes raw, manually punching in the start and stops. This is how I have been doing the HM sets for a few years, but I can't wait to get the laptop out with them too, as there is so much more that can be done. Like sampling! Until then though, the raw, 2 box sound is still working, as on this set I recorded at the start of 2009:
Xpost form Shallow Rave - and yeah, I can't be arsed changing it back to first person.
Part 2 of Little Rock's 3rd birthday celebrations sees the Niallist drop his "I Came" mixtape.
"I Came" is the lead track on the upcoming "Lust, Caution" EP, and will be getting a full 12" release on Little Rock with remixes from the Niallist, DFRNT and Brassica. This 20 minute tape features both the male and female vocal versions, live recordings from Optimo (Espacio) and BBC radio, guest MC spots from Shunda K (Yo Majesty), Rel$ (Nail In The Coffin) & Cindy Wondeful (Scream Club) and an exclusive remix by Human Shield's Gold Blood. You can listen and download it through Soundcloud:
The third and final installment in our third birthday music giveaway is here - the four track "Departures" EP. Featuring a track each from the core team at Little Rock, this is some straight-up, no-bullshit, dancefloor-aimed action.
So you get some glitch-house from Dalai Dahmer, some shuffle-techno from Line Idle, a bit of swung minimalism from Kid Ritalin and an afro-funk groove from the Two Two Kru (aka The Niallist).
It's our 3rd birthday here at Little Rock, so to celebrate we have a few freebies coming your way over the next week. First up is the FUCKNO EP - featuring new tracks by 7 of the acts featured on the FUCKNO LP (still available to download). In keeping with the spirit of NORAVE the tracks veer from post-crunk to delicate ambient, from noise-hop to torch song to a bizarre afro-rock-house jam to end it all. All tracks are at 320Mb and the whole thing clocks in at 49 minutes. Total artronica. Go get:
I made a FUCKNO gif today using the logo and a lot of the pixelate filter. We will be releasing the FUCKNO EP follow up to the album as part of our third birthday this month, with music from Blood Of The Bull, Dam Mantle, Dr Nojoke, Hannas Barber, Harlequinade, Kodama Norihito and Minus Two Quartet. Stay tuned!
This time form behind the scenes at Che Camille. This was the last ever day of public trading by Camille in this space on the top floor of Argyle Arcade, before her move to the Barras.
Well, as you might have been able to tell, HyperPride was on the same day as actual Glasgow Pride, even though we had nothing to do with it. We did go down to George's Square in the afternoon to do a fake religious picket and hand out flyers though, which is where these pics are from. It ws a good laugh having that many poofs together in public, it's just a pity the entertainment laid on was so dire.
FINALLY! Pictures are back from Saturday night - here's some of me, in my new pseudo-leather look, performing at the Flying Duck, and performing with the lovely Gazelle. All photos by Alephnaught.
7 tracks, all remixes of "Future Tent", including mixes by myself, Sun Papa, Genuine Guy, oMMM, Splash Wave, Tangles and Thunderous Mountain. All available for absolutely nish. So there. Go and grab it...
I went to see "When You're Strange" last night, the documentary about the rise and fall of the Doors by director Tom DiCillo. It's an odd film, not so much for content or tone, but just for general purpose. And here's my review. First some background...
The Doors were my first true musical love. Sure, other things pricked my ears as a child, like Prince, The Stone Roses, PSB, G'n'R, and S'Express, but at the time of the release of Oliver Stone's "The Doors" biopic I became obsessed. I guess the timing was right - puberty had just hit, I had developed an interest in 60's culture thanks to the rave scene, I wanted to expand my musical horizons, and no-one else seemed to know who they were. I guess having a sudden access to this treasure trove of music and myth through magazine features, TV spots and the film itself helped. I bought all their albums, two live sets and even An American Prayer (Morrison's solo album of spoken-word/poetry). I had posters on my wall, t-shirts, I scribbled the distinctive logo everywhere I could, I even visited Morrison's grave at the Pere Lachaise cemetary in Paris while on a language exchange.
Of course, it goes without saying that the Doors, and Morrison in particular, are one of the archtypal "adolescent" bands. Get in to them as a teen, give them a few years, and then cringe at the poor quality of some of his supposed "poetry" and attitudes once you have grown up and learned a little. At the tail end of my obsession I discovered a ratty, falling apart copy of Danny Sugerman's book "No One Here Gets Out Alive" in one of my school's classrooms. It's an amazing read, filled as it is with true life tales of Morrison's genuinely reprehensible behaviour, but it leaves a bad taste, particularly about Morrison the man as opposed to the myth. Then of course there's Stone's film - pretty mind blowing when you're thirteen but an absolute crock once you enter your twenties. So, what about "When You're Strange"?
At it's core the film is admirable, using as it does only archive footage from the period with no re-enactments and no extraneous narrative elements imposed, save for Johnny Depp's spare voice over. But the main problem is: what exactly does this film have to offer? And who is it aimed at? There is absolutely no new knowledge to be had here for fans of the band - in fact, there's even less than what I was expecting, with practically no mention of Morrison's legendary libido and the scrapes it got him in (in fact his wife Pamela is mentioned twice in 90 minutes!), and precious little of the mystic side of the man that made him so attractive to the hippie generation and beyond.
Personally, I get the feeling this was only made as a riposte to Stone's Doors movie, as the band themselves very famously and publically hated that 1991 picture. And I guess it may serve that purpose well, it might become the official starting point or beginers guide for anyone interested in getting into the Doors. Unfortunately though that means that it never really transcends its made-for-TV roots (even with the world's highest paid actor doing the voice-over) and even then, VH1 or MTV would insert interviews with some of the key band members/personnel. Large gaps appear in the story, and bizarrely the chronolgy skips back and forth for no reason. One minute the band have released "Touch Me" (December 68), the next it's the "Miami incident" (March 68) - later on the band have just released the "Morrison Hotel" LP (1970), and the next man is walking on the moon. Hunh?!
This film is not completely without merit though. Some of the archive footage is immense, and yes, there is lots of footage here that I had never previously seen on any of the videos I trawled through in the early 90s. Of course, the soundtrack is amazing (reminding the viewer that behind the sometimes embarassing Morrison were three of the best players pop has ever known, who managed to fuse their different styles into an exciting, fresh, and coherent whole), and the live performance footage is stunning, particularly the first time the band play "The End" at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go, and when they play it again as an elongated blues jam at the Isle Of White Festival. Mick Jagger may have been the first "front-man" of the 60's, but Jim Morrison was better, perhaps the best of all time, and the mid Sixites footage reminds the viewer how stunningly beautiful he was in his prime. But even with all this great footage, it just got me thinking how many damn cameras were around this band all of the time? And how much of Morrison's act was simply to play up to those cameras? He was originally a film student, after all.
This film is worth watching if you don't know anything about the band at all (watch this before you watch Oliver Stone's film, and after you have seen that go read "No One Here Gets Out Alive" to see what he left out) but for the hardcore fan there's not much to learn here. Except maybe to have the fires of youth rekindled again - yeah I haven't really listened to the Doors much since I was about 18, but I think I sense a revival coming right back on my stereo...
I've just had a guest article published on the Manchester blog Fuc51, about the differences between the music scenes in Manchester and Glasgow (as I see them).
Fuc is a great blog, ruthlessly taking the piss out of the current "The Hacienda was amazing!"/"Aren't The Stone Roses brilliant?"/"We love Joy Division we do!"-type revivalism prevalent in the city, and in particular the London-based media. Suffice to say that Peter Hook is NOT a fan.
I've started uploading the finished tracks from my forthcoming LP to Soundcloud for folks to hear. There's 7 tracks already, with guests Ali Renault, Ben Butler & Mousepad, Ms Mac D, MCs Lester Greene & Tori Fixx, and my new girl group project Mother Superior. Have a listen:
It's HYPERPRIDE and will be on July 17th at the Flying Duck, Glasgow. Again, we are hooking up with our Sapphic Sisters at Lock Up Your Daughters, and are also proud to have special guest DJ Jon Pleased Wimmin playing a special set too. Yowsah! I think I will be doing a live set for this one...
Oh, and if you have the time and the inclination, come and check out the new blog for Menergy (www.menergy.tv) which is gay-disco-a-go-go! Lots of tunes, mixes and videos of things we like up there.
After Horse Meat the other week, and all the talk of Discopia returning, I have put together a disco mix. A purist disco mix, with no house or Italo to muddy the waters. I probably should not say this too loud, but all the tunes in this mix are available to buy from iTunes. I went on there out of curiosity at what disco would be on sale, and to my surprise there was lots. And not even all mainstream. So if you like anything on this mix, you now know you can go and buy it from our friends at Apple.
TWO TONS OF FUN Do You Wanna Boogie, Hunh? CELI BEE Fly Me On The Wings Of Love FARRARI Love Attack (12" Mix) SYLVESTER Dance (Disco Heat) P'ZAZZ I Heard It Through The Grapevine INNER LIFE You Got Me Dancing THE LOVE UNLIMITED ORCHESTRA My Sweet Summer Suite THE VILLAGE PEOPLE San Francisco NIGHTLIFE UNLIMITED Dance, Freak and Boogie (Remix) UNIVERSAL ROBOT BAND Dance & Shake Your Tambourine EROTIC DRUM BAND Action '78 (Editted Version) GOODY GOODY #1 Dee Jay
Yeah, it's been offline for a while but we're doing our best to get it back up...
with guest DJs Billy Woods, Andrew Pirie, Teamy, David Barbarossa, Ally McLeod and The Niallist.
Discopia is back! After a two year absence, Glasgow's premier disco/house music website is getting ready to return, bigger and better than ever. To celebrate, and to help raise funds for the relaunch, the cream of Glasgow's disco music DJs are coming together for one night, for a very special fundraising party.
Saturday July 3rd will see Billy Woods (Outer Drive / Supermax), Andrew Pirie (Melting Pot), Teamy (Wrong Island / Fun Size) and David Barbarosa (Curious Curious / Fun Size) joining Discopia DJs Ally McLeod (Groovekraft / Refo Recordings) and the Niallist (Dissident / Radius Records / Little Rock) for a night of disco debauchery at the Admiral on Waterloo St. Doors are from 11pm til 3am, and entry is £6.
After starting out as a Glasgow-based printed fanzine in 2001, Discopia moved onto the internet in 2005, with articles and interviews at discopia.com, and a weekly radio show on Radio Magnetic. Featuring original writing by reknowned musicians and DJs like Daniel Wang, Greg Wilson, JD Twitch, Dompter Mooner, Andrew Back and DJ Apollo and exclusive interviews with the likes of David Mancuso, Alexander Robotnick, Nicky Siano, Lauren Rinder (Rinder & Lewis), Metro Area, DJ I-F, Daniele Baldelli, Legowelt amongst others. The radio show featured exclusive mixes from Prins Thomas, Maurice Fulton, Cosmo, Bangkok Impact, Balearic Mike, Robot Disco Terror, Darshan (Metro Area) and many more.
Always doing its best to represent local talent, Discopia aims to bring together the cream of the Glasgow disco music scene, with DJ bills like the one above, and also as a space for djs and punters to connect on the web and share information. There are also plans for a new Discopia record label too, which will feature disco and house music by some of the best new producers from Glasgow and around the world. The website is still under construction (at the new address www.discopia.net) but promises to come back bigger and better than ever before. However, Discopia needs your help to get back on its feet, so come down to the Admiral on July 3rd where you can dance your ass off to some great records, all the while knowing that your money is going to a great cause! Disco Lives!
I like it when nice things arrive in the mail! Such as this Dam Mantle remix of the forthcoming "Infinite Capacity" single by Ben Butler & Mouse Pad ft The Niallist.
Here's a little edit I just did, for all my beary peeps and all the disco lovers who read this. Horse Meat played this on Saturday night and reminded me how I'd been meaning to edit it for like forever. And guess what? It was available to buy on iTunes! Looks like obscure disco is getting on there now too. Nice.
This is a pic of me in my get up for last week's Menergy party. It was good fun but hella dramatic. Also, this outfit got me an offer of a threesome. I turned it down though - they weren't after me, they were just wanting a priest. Any priest.
