Early morning Quickie...

The best TV theme....ever!

Jackie Lee: White Horses

(Sorry the quality is a bit poor - I havn't been able to get hold of a better version, despite this being a genuine classic and getting to number 10 in 1967 - does anyone have a decent copy?) Thanks to Spoilt Victorian Child, quality has been improved!

Viva! the Punk Rock Names...

Punk Rock names were great.

You knew where you were with people called Ari Up and Colin Conflict, (although you never *quite* knew where you were with one bloke I used to know who was called Sue Liberty, and later Han Liberty...Han - where are you now? and more importantly, what's you're name?).

The tradition of punk rock names has never really been broken, and in my mind is tied in with an implicit trust - you know a song by someone called Jim Foetus is going to be worth a listen, but Daniel Beddingfield? I don't think so...

The rise of the musical grey area has led to a resurgance in punk rock names - someone called glitch_my_bitch_up used to post regularly on GYBO (and might still for al I know), as does my current fave, the marvellously monikered Eve Massacre.

Whilst Eve is clearly placing herself in the punk tradition with her choice of name, lots of the mash-up kiddies go for a DJ prefix, to show that they are more *modern* . They don't fool me - the beats and samples might be new, but the attitude, the DIY ethos and aesthetic and energy are pure 77.

Someone with another great punk rock name - possibly the finest ever - is Johnny Kawasaki and he shows the attitude to match as part of the "DJs on Strike" collective. Their remixes of Justin Timberland or mashes of Nirvana and twenty other grunge bands are performed with the bloody intensity of a Norwegian flensing team...unnerving, funny, and very, very dance-able.

Eve Massacre: I'm some story being told (site) (There is one of them neo-feminist post-structuralist textual analysis thingys of this song, here)

Johnny Kawasaki: I love Booty (Buy)

Now with pictures...

Cooler than Cibo Matto, funkier than Ursula 1000, sexier than Jane Fonda in Barbarella, more rock 'n' roll than shagging Patsy Kensitt, and bought to you (like all the best music) via Fat Planet, may I present the marvellous Seksu Roba:


Seksu Roba: Telephone
Seksu Roba: Intersexual Overdrive

(site) or (buy)

burn baby burn...

Just watched the video to Moby's "Make Love, Fuck War" (here) and have to say I was reminded of the pretend advert at the end of The Day Today episode "War!", which had clips of Gulf War 1 to tunes like "Hands up, baby, hands up" and "Burn, baby, burn"...

...Which got me thinking about great antiwar songs. Fluxblog or Tofuhut (sorry - can't remember which, and there's even a chance it was someone else entirely - sorry if that's the case) posted a little gem a while ago.

It's a motown sounding thing, not a genre associated with political protest songs, which would be fantastic if covered by a britney, kylie or Xtina. It's not going to happen (Britney makes her vapidity embarrassingly clear in Fahrenheit 9/11, and in fairness it would be professional suicide at a time when to speak out against political expediency is equated with treason), but a boy can dream...

Freda Payne: Bring the Boys Home (buy)

The next song is the only Crass record I ever bought. Don't get me wrong - I loved Crass, those glorious fold out covers, densely packed with typewritten rants and Gee Vaucher's fantastic collages (eat your heart out, b3tans - this was a paper and scissors job), and of course they got their stuff out cheaply - the single was a "Pay no more than 45p" job - remember them?, but their music? nah...at the time I could happily listen to Throbbing Gristle or Genesis, the Virgin Prunes or The Scorpions but although I loved the idea of Crass, loved that they were there, I never really liked them.

I bought this single in a determined effort to rectify that, and the B-Side (Big A Little A) was great, funny and punky and subversive. I only played the A side once and it upset me so deeply I never played it again. It's horrible and sad, and that's the way a song about war ought to be...

CRASS: Nagasaki Nightmare (buy)

And then there's this - derided at the time, but it's a song which manages to sum up the essential truths in a pop chorus. It's a song that should be the anthem of our time. Altogether now "War, war is stupid, and people are stupid..."

Boy George: The War Song (buy)

WTF Wednesday...

Chris Morris, creator of The Day Today, Brass Eye and Jam on TV started on radio, and in fact Jam began on radio 1 as Blue Jam, a nightmarish series of tunes, sounds and sketches. Invited back for a Breezeblock set, Chris delivered more of the same, a soundtrack to those nights when you are unsure whether you are awake or asleep. This sounds like a cross between Scanner and the Orb, Throbbing Gristle and Arthur Askey...

Chris Morris: Breezeblock set (Warning - 26mb)

*Bonus Track for you Dial-up users intimidated by downloads over 4mb*

Kenneth Williams vs Tupac: A Lincolnshire Rap (Mutant Miscreation Mix)

What was the one?...

What was the very first song you downloaded? the one that as soon as you could, you typed into the search box? To start you off (and show there's nothing to be ashamed of) here's mine:

Pink Floyd/The Orb: Shine on you crazy diamond (Orb little fluffy cloud mix)

mister mister mister mister

Mr Dobolina, funky hip hop with it's tongue in it's cheek.

Soyuz: perpetrators of Project Tereshkova (sadly offline when I checked) a remix competition featuring the dying words of the first female cosmonaut as she hurtles back to the bottom of the gravity well, here however on mellower form with a piece of moody danciness - cinematic, I believe the word is.

Del The Funky Homosapien: Mister Dobolina (buy)

Soyuz: Bulgaria (buy)

"standards have fallen...

...but my value has dropped", a great line, crooned by a true croonmeister. Cheers to Dave for pointing this little gem out.

Tomorrow things will get a bit funkier and then of course it is WTF Wednesday, but in the meantime Walk like a Panther.

Tony Christie and the All Seeing I: Walk Like A Panther

Let's be nice...

there hasn't been much in the way of easy listening for that last few days, so here is something mellow and gorgeous from Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (Iz), the outsize Hawaiian singer who died in 1997. I hadn't seen any pictures of Iz and was staggered when I looked today - he was a VERY big lad: "Throughout his career, Iz also had a weight problem that plagued his 6-foot-2-inch frame. At one time he tipped the scales at 757 pounds, and vowed in 1995 to shed 360 pounds...at one point during his career, he required a forklift to get on stage. Even walking was a chore, and he had to rely on an auxiliary oxygen tank to help him breathe". His voice belies his bulk, delicate but strong.

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole: Somewhere over the Rainbow/Wonderful World

Bum Gravy Sunday...

Sundays now belong to Bum Gravy.

A great name led to some notoriety in the mid nineties, but it was their brand of chaotic industria and some blisteringly hardcore live performances that led to their one hit, a Sounds "Single of the week" (Fat Digester/Super M). In their all too short life, Bum Gravy released two cassette-only albums as well as the single (on Fist Fun Records, and changing hands for a tidy sum on e-bay), collected onto the 2001 compilation "Excretion 2000". This is (as far as I'm aware) the first time any Bum Gravy material has appeared on the interweb, it's from the first cassette album recorded on 23/06/91...enjoy:


Bum Gravy: Bum Gravy/Bum Dub