Mixtape, son.

The first mixtape of '08 for you here; a cracking selection of tunes with the common thread through most of the tracks being that they cruelly missed out on my year-end lists due to my feather-headed-ness. Enjoy!



THERE WILL BE TUNES VOLUME ONE: I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE!

1. Benga & Coki - Night (Now, I don't listen to the radio, so I had no idea until recently that this insidious little bubbler had somehow crossed over into daytime play. Great tune, almost too great to be played on Jo Whiley amongst all the usual drivel from Scouting For Girls, One Night Only and the like.)
2. Durrty Goodz - Keep Up (The opening track from DG's Axiom EP from last year, it perfectly showcases both his tongue-twisting flow and his very British sense of humour. Think Roots Manuva meets Dizzee and you're halfway there.)
3. Lupe Fiasco - Gold Watch (Lupe's sophomore album, The Cool, went a long way to lending weight to the idea that I should have waited before compiling my lists as it would have easily made the cut. Then again, if I had waited, I'd probably still be doing them now.)
4. Ghostface Killah - Yolanda's House (feat. Raekwon & Method Man) (A textbook example of what Ghost is great at - spinning a yarn with plenty of grim wit. Meth steals the show though, in my opinion, even if it is a little too much info when he tells us "My dick keep slippin' out my boxer drawers". Put it away, fella!)
5. CunninLynguists - Wonderful (feat. Devin The Dude) (CunninLynguists are shaping up to be one of the most under-repped groups in hip-hop. Perhaps it's their horrible name that stops them being a marquee act because it sure isn't their talent. Their latest full-length, Dirty Acres recalls OutKast circa ATLiens before they got all outlandish but the boys put their own stamp on things.)
6. The Lone Ranger - Johnny Make You Bad So (I've been listening to quite a bit of reggae lately and The Lone Ranger's album Hi-Yo Silver Away has been on heavy rotation. It's all about Sly & Robbie's rhythm section rather than The Lone Ranger himself; echoey drums kick while the sinewy bass moves your hips. Nice.)
7. Sizzla - Really And Truly (There are fewer more enigmatic singers than Sizzla in the reaggae genre and, it has to be said, in music full stop and this cut from last year's The Biggest Reggae One-Drop Anthems compilation is testament to this power. You'll join the cult of Sizzla about thirty seconds in, you can be sure of it.)
8. Horace Andy - Skylarking (One of my all-time favourites, this one, rounding off a Jamaican run of three. As good as Sizzla is, he has nothing on Horace Andy, who surely has one of the most bewitching vocal styles of all time. If all you know of him is his work with Massive Attack, then shame on you.)
9. Bonar Bradberry - Beat The Bed (Superb slo-mo soulful disco vibrations that came out on Red Music towards the end of '07. Bradberry is definitely one to keep an eye on in the future if he keeps pumping out tunes as devilishly addictive as this.)
10. Imagination - Music And Lights (Dub) (I've recently been introduced to Imagination's overlooked classic collection of dubs, Night Dubbing. Naff title aside, it's a superb set of downtempo club versions of their all-conquering '80s soul numbers. Here's a little taster but you should really do yourself a favour and seek the album out.)
11. Kenneth Bager - Fragment Two "The First Picture" (feat. Julee Cruise) (The Music For Dreams mainman's album, Fragments From A Space Cadet was one of '07's more neglected records (not least by me), as it's a lush collection of classy chillout numbers. Recommended if you like Royksopp's first album and just good music in general.)
12. Smith & Mudd - The Start (Smith & Mudd's collaborative long-player, Blue River was another that was a victim of a late release date when it came to compiling my 2007 best ofs. Definitely would have made the grade had it came out earlier, as it, and this track especially, sums up everything that's great about the burgeoning cosmic disco scene. Lovely stuff.)
13. Cage & Aviary - Television Train (The Dissident label came out of nowhere (well, London, to be precise) last year with their limited runs and extortionate price tags, but sniffy exclusivity aside, they've put out some seriously good stuff, with this being about the best. Look out for Cage & Aviary, along with Ali Renault and Binary Chaffinch making the step up to the majors at some point in 2008.)
14. Professor Genius - Pegaso (Silver & Kane's Roma Mix) (Italians Do It Better's secret weapon, Professor Genius gets taken on a trip back in time by Silver & Kane here, recalling the era when synthesizers were the sound of the future. Very retro and very forward-thinking at the same time.)
15. Hercules & Love Affair - Iris (H&LA's debut album is an instant classic and this is its loveliest moment. A superb comedown track for the early hours and a great note on which to end this mixtape.)

There Will Be Tunes Volume One - Ripped, zipped and megauploaded

Update: Secondary link for the Megaupload-phobic (Sendspace)

Mixtape y'all!

Howdy!

Last mixtape of 2007 for you right here...


YER MAM!'S SOLID GOLD SMASHES VOLUME FOUR

1. Ronnie Hayward - You Hound Ya Lie (Superb rockabilly bounce from the rather fun Cut Chemist & Keb Darge-compiled Lost And Found. I don't put enough stuff like this on my mixtapes. Super-cool.)
2. Gene Clark - No Other (Gospel-tinged, swampy, psych-country-blues rock - enough prefixes for ya? - from the late Byrd's solo album of the same name, one of my favourite albums of all time.)
3. Leonard Cohen - Diamonds In The Mine (I spent some time earlier this year getting into Cohen's early work, by virtue of the remasters of his first three albums. It's not all misery and gloom you know as this little country rollick goes to show. That unrefined, gravelly voice is still there though. And the highly-defined sense of finding the beauty in life's ugliness. It's just that he was still ripping off Dylan at this point of his career. It's a superior rip-off though, that's for sure.)
4. Bobby Charles - Long Face (Nice little soulful country number - spotting a pattern yet? - from The Band co-conspirator, Charles. Needless to say, if you like Robbie Robertson & co., you're going to love this.)
5. The Beach Boys - Sail On, Sailor (One of my favourite Beach Boys tunes from the oft-neglected, yet brilliant Holland album. Sung by Blondie Chaplin but with those unmistakable harmonies, it's definitely a highlight from the patchy - read largely awful - '70s period.)
6. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Hot Burrito #1 (Rounding off our Americana sweep is this beauty. Choosing my favourite Gram Parsons vocal performance is always difficult but this is always up for consideration. Pure heartbreak.)
7. Boat Club - Warmer Climes (Swedish duo Boat Club look to low-key, British electronic pop of the '80s for inspiration. Think a fey Talk Talk and you're halfway there. Like Studio but less overblown and proggy.)
8. A.R. Kane - A Love From Outer Space (One of the most overlooked bands of the '80s, this is one of those tracks that would have been huge if it weren't for bad timing. With its upbeat piano and loved-up vocal, it would have killed during '89's second summer of love. Alas, it came out the year before and was pretty much ignored. Right that wrong now.)
9. The Honeymoon Killers - Decollage (Prins Thomas' edit of this is one of the many highlights of his Cosmo Galactic Prism mix, but the original's pretty damn fine too. It makes me feel slightly queasy in the best way possible. Plus, it's sung in French, which is always a bonus.)
10. Patrice Rushen - Number One (Instrumental) (A boogie-era fave, this imperiously funky, slightly jazzy discoid workout still kills. Certain to slay any right-minded dancefloor the world over.)
11. Stevie Wonder - All I Do (One of Stevie's best. Not much more to be said on the matter really.)
12. 7 Samurai - The African (Panoptikum Remix) (Soulful, Marley-cribbing tech-house from the G.A.M.M. stable. Those Swedes have got this music shit sewn up haven't they?)
13. Nagano Kitchen - Finding Kinoko (Nagano Kitchen are house producers Jerome Sydenham and Hideo Kobayashi and this is, as you'd expect, a little on the proggy side, but with some winning Balearic flourishes, such as the Gottsching-like guitar line. Blissful.)
14. Booka Shade - Numbers (Extended Vocal Mix) (Done for their recent DJ-Kicks mix, this shows that not all contractual obligations have to be artistically redundant. Keeps the good run of form going for the German duo.)
15. Etienne Jaumet - Repeat Again After Me (Ame Remix) (Another production double act on excellent form are Ame and here they turn in a stunning, malevolent primetime killer with one of the best uses of a saxophone since Kenny G had his inserted sideways into his rectum in 1988.)
16. Hercules & Love Affair - Roar (Astonishing stuff from DFA's Andy Butler. Retro-modernism with a coital-sounding Antony Hegarty on vox, although you probably couldn't tell if you didn't already know. Irresistibly sexy and bodes well for the full length coming early next year. Did someone say album of 2008?)

Yer Mam!'s Solid Gold Smashes Volume Four Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space

End-of-year lists start this weekend, folks!

JMx

Got tunes if you want 'em?

Hello again from the blog voted Most Likely to be neglected by its owner for weeks on end. We're back with another new mixtape and this time it's a disco special. Well, I play fast and loose with the genre, but I think it's safe to say that all these songs could be played in discotheques. Does anyone still call them that?

Oh, and I accidentally ripped it at 320kbps, so it's a bit of a big bugger to download but, hey, it sounds great!


YER MAM!'S SOLID GOLD SMASHES VOLUME THREE: THE DISCO YEARS

1. Thelma Houston - (I Guess) It Must Be Love (Opening up with some primo boogie from Ms. Houston. Be warned: this song contains one of the most badass synth licks in the history of badass synth licks. May contain funk.)
2. The Mary Jane Girls - All Night Long (One of those songs that you all know but would probably be hard-pressed to come up with who sang it. You know the one. "You got me shook up, shook down, shook out on your lovin'" and all that? Covered - kind of - by Mary J. Blige? Yeah, that one.)
3. Ashford & Simpson - Don't Cost You Nothing (Slap bass! Hand claps! Ashford and Simpson! This one has the lot!)
4. The Rah Band - Slide (The saxophone does not have to be the instrument of evil, it just has to fall into the right hands. The hands of The Rah Band are certainly more than capable, but try as you might to stop yourself, I bet you all think of Midnight Caller when that sax kicks in.)
5. RAMP - The Old One, Two (Told you I was playing fast and loose with the disco remit as this one isn't really disco at all, but an incessantly funky little jam by the legendary RAMP.)
6. Don Armando's 2nd Ave. Rhumba Band - I'm An Indian, Too (This is more like it. Outrageously camp classic from the ZE stable. Irving Berlin goes disco! Who'd have thought it would work?)
7. Evelyn "Champagne" King - Shame (The queen of boogie here with probably her most well-known song. More sax on show here too, brass fans.)
8. Crown Heights Affair - You Gave Me Love ("Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!")
9. Mystic Merlin - Sixty Thrills A Minute (Supremely energetic little mover from the recent Capitol Disco compilation. Ticks all the boxes, I think you'll agree.)
10. D-Train - Keep Givin' Me Love (Larry Levan Edit) (One of my favourite all-time disco tunes. Absolutely orgasmic in its rapturous good time vibe. Just wow!)
11. C-Bank - One More Shot (This is where it all starts getting a bit electro. The star of Trevor Jackson's recent The Kings Of Electro mix (more about that soon), this is a collaboration between John Robie and Jenny Burton from 1983. No matter how much technology advances, this sound will always be fresh to me. Or maybe that should read "F-f-f-f-f-reshhhhhhh!"?)
12. Joyce Sims - The All And All (UK Remix) (Curtis Mantronix takes on this soulful little number and gives it a streetwise - for 1986, anyway - overhaul. Those drums don't date.)
13. S.O.S. Band - Just Be Good To Me (The original and still the best. Jam & Lewis + Mary Davis >>>>> Norman Cook + Lindy Layton.)

Yer Mam!'s Solid Gold Smashes Volume Three: The Disco Years, Ripped, Zipped and Sent Into Space

More updates to come. I promise.

JMx

Mixtape! Getcha mixtape!

Hello readers!

Another mixtape for you here. This one's a bit more dancey than the last one, with a focus on stuff that's rocking the 'floors of clubs the world over. Or not, maybe. Who knows what the kids like these days, really eh?!


YER MAM!'S SOLID GOLD SMASHES VOLUME TWO: NIGHT VERSION

1. LCD Soundsystem - Sound Of Silver (C2 RMX Rev. 3) (Cryptic title, but solid silver bomb. Carl Craig, as always, gives everything a sort of neo-futurist sheen and a surging, insidious beat. Pure class.)
2. Chromatics - I Want Your Love (From their new album - can you actually call it an album? CD-R? - Night Drive, this is a widescreen, Italo groover. Anyone else of the opinion that Ruth Radelet's the most alluring singer around right now?)
3. Cage & Aviary - Giorgio Carpenter (This one got a limited release recently on the hip, new London-based label, Dissident and here it is in all its ten minutes-plus glory. Hypnotic.)
4. King Creosote - You've No Clue Do You (Atlantic Conveyor Mix) (Should KC ever decide to hang up the arran jumper and take to doing house PAs for a living, then this is approaching what he might sound like. Hey, you know what? It's a look that suits his careworn, but passionate voice.)
5. Mocky - Catch A Moment In Time (Ewan Pearson's Memory Blissed Remix) (Revisited this one from a couple of years ago since its appearance on Ewan's recent Piece Work remix collection. Definitely one of his best, but it could do with a dub. That vocal gets hell of annoying after a few listens.)
6. Ilya Santana - Quasar (Pete Herbert Remix) (Been knocking around for a little while this one but its got better with time in my opinion. Fans of Pete Herbert's work with Reverso 68 and L.S.B. won't find anything majorly surprising here, but that spring-loaded bassline will make you move all the same.)
7. Karizma - In Tha D.ee.p (Another one that's been around the block a bit but I'm jonesing for all things Karizma at the moment so I thought I'd stick it on here. Superb house music for mind, body and soul.)
8. DJ Gregory - Elle (Ame Piano Mix) (Those Germans really are making a name for themselves recently and this kind of track is exactly why. Shuffly, subtly shifting tech workout with a slight latin tinge. Nice.)
9. Moloko - Forever More (My love for the new Roisin Murphy album made me go back and dig this one out. One of the most overlooked and greatest singles of the decade in my honest opinion, not that you listen to little old me anyway. Proper end-of-the-night tune.)
10. Dame Shirley Bassey - Slave To The Rhythm (The Glimmers Mix) (A real show-stopper this one, but can Dame Shirl do any other kind of tune? Gal's got balls.)

Yer Mam!'s Solid Gold Smashes Volume Two Ripped, Zipped and Sent Into Space

More where this one came from. Keep an eye out...

JMx

Wanna buy a mixtape?*

You've all waited way too long for one of these...


YER MAM!'S SOLID GOLD SMASHES VOLUME ONE

1. Turid - Lat Mig Se Dig (Kicking off with some supremely blissed-out, meandering folkprogspaceacidrock from the rather fine Bearded Ladies Volume One compilation on Finders Keepers. Beautiful stuff.)
2. Suzanne Vega - Blood Makes Noise (Reminded of this via The Sarah Silverman Program of all things. A great piece of faintly avant-garde folk-pop from the queen of that kind of thing.)
3. Stretch - Why Did You Do It? (I think enough time has passed since Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels for us all to separate this classic slab of badass British funk-rock from any kind of cockernee gangster connotations, so here it is.)
4. Van Morrison - I've Been Working (Tim Sweeney's been playing a pretty great edit of this track from Van The Man's His Band And The Street Choir album on Beats In Space, but nowt beats the original, with Van doing his best blues howl. "Woman, woman, woman, woman, woman, woman, woman, woman make me feel so good!")
5. American Gypsy - Inside Out (One of the best and strangest - I mean, how incongruous is that slowed-down middle eight?! - funk tracks of all time. Nuff said.)
6. Georgia Anne Muldrow & Dudley Perkins - One (Didn't have high hopes for this collaboration with Muldrow's tendency to over-egg the pudding and Perkins' bent for souring said pudding with a hefty chunk of corn, but The Message Uni Versa is pretty damn good and this is one of my favourites from said album. Got a Madlib-gone-cartoonish feel about it. Nice.)
7. Herbie Hancock - Saturday Night (Beatconductor Disco Mix) (Beatconductor is far and away one of the best editors out there and he does a sterling job here, stretching the original out to near-breaking point, allowing for maximum dancefloor vibes.)
8. Freeez - Southern Freeez (Overlooked, jazzy, funky classic from the guys what brought you 'I.O.U.'. Brings out the sunshine everytime.)
9. Carl Davis & The Chi-Sound Orchestra - Windy City (I'll Tell You What It Is Later) ("Windy city! Doo-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-dooo-do-doo! It's cold! And cool! It's outta sight!" All. You. Need. To. Know.)
10. Me & You - Sneaker Thief (Summer may seem to most like a distant memory now - for some of us it nary made an appearance - but during the summer months this one track evoked the smell of barbecues and that regretful feeling you get when you realise that alcohol and heat do not mix more than any other for me.)
11. Hot Chocolate - Cadillac (The Revenge Rework) (L.E.S.S. Productions' The Revenge - friend of the blog and purveyor of quality edits - takes this 70s cheese-disco nugget and turns it into one tough little unit. A dancefloor stomper, that's for damned sure.)
12. Ministry - I Wanted To Tell Her (Goth-disco stormer from before Ministry were the stern industrialists we know and love today. I kind of wish they'd have stuck with this sort of stuff their whole career rather than abandoning this sound one album in.)
13. Midnight Mike - Who Do You Love? (Sung By Takayo Akiyama and Warabe Takekoji) (One of very few saving graces on Midnight Mike's almost all-dire covers record, Midnight Karaoke. This is just the right balance of respect and irreverence. Shame he didn't get it right on the rest of the album.)
14. The Who - Eminence Front (Big thanks to the Best Foot Forward guys for tipping me to the existence of this massive tune from The Who's 1982 album, It's Hard. Basically a Pete Townshend solo joint, it's a big ol' chunk of proselytising, coke-flecked, disco-rock, stadium bluster and about 10,000 times better than I just made it sound.)
15. Dennis Wilson - Dreamer (Closing us out with a cut from Pacific Ocean Blue, which despite its status as a 'great lost album', isn't actually all that lost these days, what with the internet and everything. Still, it'd be nice to get a proper CD release of this at some point, wouldn't it?)

Yer Mam!'s Solid Gold Smashes Volume One Ripped, Zipped and Sent Into Space

Volume Two soon come...

JMx

*It's free, actually. You don't have to pay a thing.

Mixtape, sir?: Crispy as my man Bill Blass.

After this one, I'm going to take a break from the mixtapes for a week or so, as I don't want to bombard you with them. There are more to come though so stay tuned (no flipping?).

I've just realised that, apart from the samples in the Major Force West and Burial tracks, there isn't a single female voice on this mixtape. Apologies for the unintended neglect of the fairer sex.



YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME FIVE

1. King Midas Sound - Surround Me (From the recent Soul Jazz dubstep comp, A Box Of Dub, the emphasis on this tune is most definitely on the dub, not the (2-) step. This is some seriously chest-rattling stuff, but with an irresistibly soulful vocal. This scene is so good right now...)
2. Burial - Shutta (...So let's investigate some more. From the Ghost Hardware EP - a former Single Of The Week, nonetheless - this is more of the clattering, menacing, thoroughly urban sound that Burial is immersed in. Thrilling, inventive and addictive.)
3. Shackleton - Naked (The Skull Disco imprint seems to be ploughing its own furrow in the dubstep subgenre and this is highly indicative of their trademark approach. There are spaghetti western touches in the melodica flourishes, an urgent, paranoid house-y piano and, best of all, some big ol' bass drops, the kind of which could make buildings collapse.)
4. Saul Williams - Black Stacey (Deadbeat Remix) (Bizarrely showing up as a bonus track on Deadbeat aka Scott Monteith's latest album, Journeyman's Annual, this breathes new life into the best track off Williams' last long-player. Dubby, hazy and spooky.)
5. Major Force West - Cup Of Tea (Anyone know what happened to the guys from Major Force West? They were hipper than hip around the late-90s when James Lavelle and the Mo' Wax crowd held them up on a pedestal as forward-thinking producers, then nothing. If you know where they are, their mothers are very concerned.)
6. Dr. Octagon - Blue Flowers ("Paramedic foetus of the east, with priests, I'm from the church of the operating room". Welcome to the diseased, brilliant brain of 'Kool' Keith Thornton.)
7. Wu-Tang Clan - I Can't Go To Sleep (feat. Isaac Hayes) (Word has it there's a new Wu album due later in the year. I'll believe it when I hear it and, if it's true, it had better be great because they're overdue a great album. The W is about the closest they've come since the debut and this is still my favourite tune from it, if only for Ghostface doing his rhyming/crying thang.)
8. Redman - Wuditlooklike (From Red's finest hour, Dare Iz A Darkside, this Funkadelic-inspired cut is a great reminder of the guy's wit and skills.)
9. Blahzay Blahzay - Danger Part 2 (Blahzay are one of the forgotten 90s NY hip-hop crews, mostly because they only recorded one album, a 12" and then disappeared. Don't forget just how tight rappers they were and their ear for a great beat show through on this track from their only full-length, Blah Blah Blah.)
10. Naughty By Nature - Uptown Anthem ("WRECKIN' CREW!!!" This tune will always remind me of the film, Juice, one of my teenage favourites.)
11. Main Source - Live At The Barbeque ("It's like that y'all.... And that's all!" We're really breaking out the old school hip-hop jams today. Nas' first recorded verse, am I right? Probably not.)
12. Rawcotiks - Hardcore Hip Hop (DJ Premier Mix) (Definitely one of my all-time top Premier productions, this has all his patented touches in one smoking hot, KRS-sampling package.)
13. Pharoahe Monch - When The Gun Draws (feat. Mr. Porter) (Something new now from Pharoahe's Desire album. He tells a history of violence from the viewpoint of a bullet here, which isn't very original but the rhymes are inventive all the same.)
14. Clipse - Wamp Wamp (What It Do) (feat. Slim Thug) (I don't think I've put this on a mixtape before and it's one of those tunes that just keeps getting better with each listen. Also, the "It cools to a tight wad, the pyrex is Jewish" line still makes me smile.)
15. Dizzee Rascal - Bubbles (Some may baulk at the inclusion of Dizzee amongst such exalted company but the hell with them. This rocks!)
16. Edan - Funky Voltron (feat. Insight) (As does this. Don't hate.)
17. Method Man - Bring The Pain (The Wu, Redman and Meth all on the same mixtape? I'm spoiling you guys! Classic banger.)
18. Jaylib - Raw Shit (feat. Talib Kweli) (The Jaylib album, Champion Sound has recently been reissued so it's a timely chance to reassess it. Well, it still doesn't hang together all that well but this track is still fine and better than anything off Kweli's latest record.)
19. Sa-Ra Creative Partners - Do Me Gurl (feat. Ty of Ty & Kory) (Something soulful to top things off. The new Sa-Ra album, The Hollywood Recordings has really crept up on me to the point where it may well be one of my most-played from this year. A little too long and nothing entirely new from them but they're really mastering that sound of theirs now.)

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume Five, Ripped, Zipped and Mediafired

Kool Keith image from here.

JMx

Mixtape, sir?: Whispering words that scream of outrageous sin.

I'm not exactly posting at what you could call regular intervals but I get there in the end. I blame the horrible weather for making me more slothful than usual. Come on! Summer's not supposed to be like this!

Oh yeah, I'm using Gigasize today on the advice of one of my commentors. Hope it works for you all...


YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME FOUR

1. Misha - Scars (Walking that precarious line between charming and twee, 'Scars' ultimately charms with that impossibly good-natured brass break. Lovely.)
2. Seu Jorge - Bem Querer (Soulful stuff from the one-time Knockout Ned. Deserves sunshine and beaches but rain-soaked Manchester suburbia will have to do.)
3. Caribou - Sundialing (I'm starting to think of this as a low-key cousin to 'All My Friends' with its repetitious guitar line and gently pounding drums. It's the cousin that's out of his gourd on psychedelics, naturally.)
4. Metalchicks - Tears For Fears/Conspiracy (You know when people say "It's like nothing I've ever heard" about a song or album, then you listen only to spot the influences straight off the bat? Well, you really won't have heard anything like this before. Disco-metal, only about as far removed from 'Danger! High Voltage!' as it's possible to be whilst still actually being a piece of music.)
5. Dolly Parton - Jolene (Peter Visti Edit) (It had to happen sometime. I'm just surprised that it's taken the disco edit mafia this long to give Dolly's classic sexual jealousy tale a Balearic makeover. This cut from the latest in the Mindless Boogie series is pure Visti, with those trademark phased synths and the new look suits her.)
6. Wild Rumpus - Musical Blaze Up (Rub 'N' Tug Bitches Remix) (After picking this for the recent Blog Fresh Radio summer mixtape thingy, I thought I'd stick it on here too. It's called synergy, people!)
7. Henrik Schwarz & Ame & Dixon - Where We At? Part 2 (Body Language Version) (Yet another slightly different take on this track, built around Derrick Carter's modern classic. Old news for the techno heads out there, maybe, but I love the way you can tell which parts were added by each of the protagonists. A dance music brain trust at work.)
8. Chromatics - Hands In The Dark (Icily romantic cover of the Dark Day tune that graces the Italians Do It Better label comp, After Dark. Modern disco with a retro grounding.)
9. Sheila E. - A Love Bizarre (This might as well be Prince's track as he's all over it like a bad shirt. Not that he'd ever wear one. A bit overlong perhaps at 12 minutes-plus, but as I've said many times before, you can never have too much Prince.)
10. Amerie - Crush (Amerie's new long-player, Because I Love It is easily one of the best pop albums of the year, but this is one that I keep going back to. Amerie reins in the vocal histrionics for a brilliantly underplayed, subtle approach and it leads to one of the best pop ballads I've heard in about, well, forever. Lush!)
11. Queens Of The Stone Age - Make It Wit Chu (Re-worked but not entirely different from the Desert Sessions take (it's only really missing PJ Harvey), it's proof that Josh Homme is a great soul singer trapped in a kickarse rocker's body.)
12. Keith Murray - The Most Beautifullest Thing In This World (It's great to hear a hip-hop love song that doesn't make you want to throw up, but I've had to go back to 1994 to dig one up. An almost-forgotten classic.)
13. Erykah Badu - Bag Lady (Cheebah Sac Radio Edit) (I posted this on its own a while back but I thought I'd bring it back to close this one out. The best thing she's ever done in my opinion.)
    

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume Four, Ripped, Zipped and Gigasized

In other news: read my fawning review of the Daydream Nation Deluxe Edition at High Voltage.

Back soon with more free music for everyone!

JMx

Mixtape, sir?: Right-on and Righteous!

A heady brew of soul, funk and rock 'n' roll for y'all tonight, with added weirdness along the way...


YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME THREE

1. Glissandro 70 - Bolan Muppets (Sparse, bewitchingly minimal (sort of) indie from Glissandro 70 that acts as a great atmosphere-setter. Ominous, yet alluring.)
2. Dungen - Familj (Acid-fried psyche from the Swedes who'll I'll admit to not really 'getting' until the new album, Tio Bitar. Great Bonham-aping drumwork too.)
3. Serge Gainsbourg - Requiem Pour Un Con (Sampled on many a hip-hop track, most notably by MC Solaar, the original's still the best and the funkiest. Pass the Gitanes.)
4. Big Barney - The Whole Thang (Superb obscure funk-rock about pigging out, with added vinyl pops and crackles for authenticity.)
5. Betty Davis - Anti-Love Song (A recent discovery for me, the former Mrs. Miles Davis' voice is one of the great, unalloyed, carnal pleasures there is in the whole funk canon. When it all comes together in writhing hedonism at the end it will slay you.)
6. Marsha Hunt's 22 - (Oh No! Not) The Beast Day (Carrying on the theme of famous musicians' former squeezes, here's a riotous little groover from the mother of Mick Jagger's first child, Karis. More than just a groupie though, Hunt was a great artist in her own right. mostly through her association with Marc Bolan. Great stuff.)
7. Map Of Africa - Snake Finger ("I'm the king of this disco, baby" wails Harvey as he and Thomas Bullock brew up a slinky, hip-shimmying blues-rock groove from MOA's coveted, self-titled debut album. The pay-off of "Hey babe, you got five bucks?" is hilarious too.)
8. Chris Bell - Get Away (Big Star's tragic figure, Chris Bell's only solo album, I Am The Cosmos, released 14 years after his death in a car accident is essentially just a compilation of his 70s recordings but the whole thing hangs together so well it's easy to forget that. 'Get Away' is a rambunctious rocker, laden with spooky reverb and anchored by Bell's impassioned vocal.)
9. Chicago Transit Authority - I'm A Man (Okay, I'm not trying to disguise it. Everyone knows that they eventually dropped the Transit Authority and became one of the world's biggest soft-rock groups. The band who went on to inflict 'If You Leave Me Now' on the world used to be a wild jazz-fusion group and this cover of the Spencer Davis Group classic is as funky as they ever got. Drum solo!)
10. Led Zeppelin - Communication Breakdown (C'mon, this one needs no introduction.)
11. The Chocolate Watchband - Are You Gonna Be There (At The Love-In) (One of the joys of listening to the original Nuggets box set is trying to pinpoint which band(s) these early punks were ripping off. This one's pure Rolling Stones from the Keith Richards-esque overdriven blues riffing to the Jagger-isms of the vocal. Brilliant though, despite how derivative it is.)
12. Black Lips - My Struggle (Newie from Atlanta, GA's finest scuzzball garage monkeys, this is a fleet-footed, poppy number about fleeing in a "Nissan truck". I can definitely think of more glamourous ways to do a runner.)
13. The Dirtbombs - I'm Through With White Girls (Arguably the best of all the garage revivalists, this cut from Dangerous Magical Noise is more Glitter Band than The Sonics, but if those big ol' drums don't get you on the floor then you better check your pulse.)
14. Jay Reatard - Nightmares (Reatard makes great pop songs and layers them in oodles of fuzz and plays them fast as fuck. It's a trick that works every time though.)
15. The White Stripes - Conquest (Perhaps one of the oddest bands ever to hit the big time, Meg & Jack bring a Mariachi band along for the ride here and cook up one of their strangest songs ever.)
16. Mary Weiss With The Reigning Sound - Don't Come Back (Instantly classic bubblegum pop from the erstwhile Shangri-La. Her 2007 album, Dangerous Game is a real grower.)
17. King Khan & The Shrines - Welfare Bread (While we're on a run of garage revivalists, we couldn't leave out the excellent King Khan. More soulful than the rest, The Shrines bring the horns to the party.)
18. The Animals - Bury My Body (Taking it back to the 60s now with this little menacer from probably the best blues band that Britain ever produced. Eric Burdon's voice just drips with conviction.)
19. Neil Young - Walk On (The opener from On The Beach, this is one of those songs that I don't think I'll ever get sick of. I can't listen to it without singing along. "Ooh baby, it's hard to change. I can tell them how to fee-eel.")
20. The Staple Singers - Slippery People (This is a new one on me. I didn't even know until very recently that The Staple Singers did this awesome cover of the Talking Heads' classic, but I'm glad I do now and I thought I'd share it with you.)
21. Nanette Workman - Save Me (Storming disco ballad to take us out. Choppy geetar and tons of percussion rub up against each other while Workman pours her heart out to anyone who'll listen.)

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume Three, all ripped, zipped and mediafired.

In other news: I've updated No Flipping! again and I've also contributed to the Blog Fresh Radio summer mixtape. Jesus, you'll have to get a ton of C90s to record all these mixes!

Over and out,

JMx

Mixtape, sir?

Guess who's back?


YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME TWO

1. LCD Soundsystem - Freak Out/Starry Eyes (Proof, if it were needed, that James Murphy & co. can do no wrong, this excellent, percussive, two-part disco jam was passed off as a b-side. Check the drum solo intermission for added freaky vibes.)
2. Tracey Thorn - Raise The Roof (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Re-animation) (Easily one of the year's best remixes so far, BTWS rewire the chirpy ambient pop of the original in a discoid style with lush, slyly insistent synths and that certain rustic charm that Alkan and Norris give all their makeovers.)
3. Matthew Dear - Elementary Lover (feat. Mobius Band) (Winningly odd afro-pop from this year's renaissance man, Dear. Distills Talking Heads circa Remain In Light, TV On The Radio and King Sunny Ade in one small, perfectly-formed package.)
4. The Honeymoon Killers - Histoire A Suivre (High-tensile but strangely floaty, thanks to Yvon Vromman's sweet vocals, new wave from the forgotten Belgians, currently undergoing somewhat of a rebirth following their appearance on Prins Thomas' Cosmo Galactic Prism. Not with this track though, 'Histoire A Suivre' was their first single and takes cues from the likes of Gang Of Four, The Slits and Contortions but with a Blondie-esque pop sensibility.)
5. Talking Heads - Making Flippy Floppy (From Talking Heads' last great album, Speaking In Tongues, 'Making Flippy Floppy' is the sound of a great art-rock group playing at being a pop band and it's as thrillingly fractured and strange as the band's pop forays ever got. Forget 'Road To Nowhere', this is the one that should have been massive.)
6. New Young Pony Club - Hiding On The Staircase (After showing so much promise, NYPC's debut album, Fantastic Playroom is a bit of a letdown, but the chicken-scratch guitars and reggae-lite beat work together so well with the semi-dispassionate vocal from Tahita Bulmer here to hint that they might still have greatness in them.
7. The Tough Alliance - New Chance (I can't get a handle on whether TTA are just having a big old laugh at our expense. That doesn't matter for shit though when songs like this one and pretty much every other on their new album are as imperviously effervescent and summery. There's something sinister going on under that good time facade though.)
8. YACHT - Platinum (feat. Bobby Birdman) (This sounds like a mini-pops version of LCD's 'Get Innocuous' (Murphy is an admirer too, apparently), but the pay-off comes around a lot quicker with this one, making it an instantly gratifying little mover. It's also just as addictive.)
9. Shahrokh.SoundOfK - Chicago (An undiluted sugar-rush of sample-heavy tech-house from Compost Records' latest Black Label release. A promising start from the future stars.)
10. Kelley Polar - Rosenband (Magic Tim's Instrumental Version) (Magic Tim (Who he?) strips the original of all vocals apart from some breathy bits, allowing the impressive sonic layering to come to the fore. Can't wait for Polar's new album later in the year.)
11. Lindstrom & Solale - Let's Practise (Dub Version) (In which the slo-mo Italo blinder gets slowed to an even drowsier crawl and heaps of echoey effects dumped atop the groove. Elegantly wasted.)
12. Matias Aguayo - New Life (I've recently gone back to Aguayo's 2005 release, Are You Really Lost and it's better than I remember it to be. Interesting to note how many other producers around seem to be following his lead these days too. Both the recent Kalabrese and Matthew Dear albums seem to act as distant cousins of that record, which means it should be interesting to hear what Aguayo releases next. What we need more of is sleazy techno.)
13. Solomun & Stimming - Feuervogel (One of the biggest techno tunes of the year, this one probably owes more to deep house as it does to minimal with those fat synth stabs and the chiming melodics. Whatever it is, it ticks all the boxes and pushes all the buttons in such a pleasing manner that genre definitions fly out of the window.)

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume Two, all ripped, zipped up and mediafired

In other news: Read my review of that there Prins Thomas mix CD that I keep banging on about over at High Voltage.

Mixtape, Sir?

Right, it's time for the first of those mixtapes I promised you. I'm experimenting with file-hosters, so today's is up on Mediafire. Let me know if you have any problems with it.



YER MAM!'S BIG SUMMER MIXTAPE BLOWOUT! VOLUME ONE

1. Theo Parrish - Second Chances (The opening track from Parrish's new, vinyl-only album, Sound Sculptures Vol. 1 is also the best, in my opinion. 'Second Chances' perfectly displays that interplay between jazz and techno that Parrish does so well, in that the jazzy elements serve the techy backbone and vice versa. A true master at work.)
2. Cobblestone Jazz - W (New track from Matthew Jonson's Cobblestone Jazz outfit, taken from the latest Cocoon label box-set, G. More 'big room' than normal, but still as subtly persuasive as the likes of 'India In Me' and 'Dump Truck'.)
3. Soylent Green - Camera Obscura (You'll find that a running theme throughout this stretch of mixtapes is tunes that Prins Thomas has used on his excellent Cosmo Galactic Prism mix. Bit cheeky of me to steal his ideas, but guy knows a good tune when he hears one and so do I. I missed the boat on Roman Flugel's Soylent Green guise and I'm only just catching up. 'Camera Obscura' is a great, fleet-footed, snappy slice of deep house body music a million miles removed from the stuff he records in his own name.)
4. Zoo Brazil - Kazaboo (Zoo Brazil's album, Video Rockets left me a little cold, but this driving piece of minimal house is a diamond in the rough. Just don't go into the album expecting everything to be like this.)
5. Teenage Bad Girl - Ghost House (As with the Zoo Brazil album, Teenage Bad Girl's Cocotte did pretty much nothing for me, but this swirly, Braxe-like, champagne synth-house workout is definitely worth salvaging.)
6. Force Of Nature - To The Brain (Prins Thomas 118 Miks) (Continuing his fine run of work, Thomas adds a lot more space and depth to the original here by slowing things down a notch but allowing the snakey bassline, cribbed from Jimmy 'Bo' Horne's 'Is It In?', to work its hip-grinding magic. Which it does and then some.)
7. Escort - All Through The Night (The Rapture Hush Hush Remix) (Well this one was a surprise. Having never been totally enamoured with The Rapture's remix work in the past, they really do a great job here. There's a playful insanity at work on this one. Imagine Carl Craig gone Baltimore club and you're halfway there. Brilliantly bonkers.)
8. Michoacan - 2 Bullets (The Glimmers' Hacienda Dub) (This is another that there wasn't a lot riding on. I've always preferred The Glimmers as DJs than producers, but this is an excellent, quirky Balaeric stormer that is well in keeping with the spirit of the Manchester institution from which it takes its name.)
9. Jay Shepheard - Last Days (Of Cou Cou D) (Dubbed-out disco from the latest in Compost's Black Label series. Some nice Italo-style synths going on in this one too.)
10. Breaks Co-Op - Duet (Atlantic Conveyor Extended Remix) (AC turn in a shine-ola from shit do-over of the Zane Lowe-affiliated Kiwis from last year. Similar in style to Chateau Flight, Atlantic Conveyor are building a nice rep as purveyors of quality, melodic tech-house.)
11. Mari Boine - Vuoi Vuoi Me (Henrik Schwarz Remix) (I've been meaning to put this on a mixtape since I first heard it earlier in the year, but I've only just got around to it. Thought I'd bestow on it the honour of closing out this one, seeing as it's one of the best remixes of 2007 so far. Henrik Schwarz is working at the very top of his game right now and this is all kinds of reasons why.)

Yer Mam!'s Big Summer Mixtape Blowout! Volume One, all ripped, zipped up and Mediafired

Further reading: This is interesting. Where the fuck does the guy from The Kooks get off pissing on a sacred cow like Pet Sounds?

Also, I've updated No Flipping! for anyone who's interested.

Mixtape Week: Sunday

It's Sunday, so today's mixtape is one designed to help you in your quest to get your chill on on this most cold chillin' of days. Bank holiday tomorrow too, so you know that your chill isn't going to be all tainted by thoughts of dread at having to get up so dang early tomorrow.

Oh, and it's a double again. 30 tracks of the most chillingest stuff out there.


YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: SUNDAY

DISC ONE

1. iLiKETRAiNS - Spencer Perceval (Latest single from a band that could be, given a couple of years and a kickarse debut album, one of the best bands in Britain. Sounds like the end of the world.)
2. Soulsavers - Revival (Mark Lanegan could sing the phone book and make it sound like a death march. The gospel choir and crashing piano chords give proceedings a hopeful tinge, but you know that Mark Lanegan would eat your soul given half a chance.)
3. Angie Stone - Wish I Didn't Miss You (The closest thing that the nu-soul niche has gotten to the spirit of the old stuff. It helps that it lifts the tune from The O'Jays' 'Backstabbers', mind.)
4. Benny Sings - For Your Love (Skirting the outer edges of cheesedom, occasionally dipping a cheeky toe in Camembert lake, Benny Sings is a kind of post-modern take on 70s soul music. The irrepressible groove of this tune elevates it to essential status. Not bad for something that could easily have just been a one-note joke.)
5. Marvin Gaye - I Want You (And now the real thing. Oozing sex and class, you just know that Marvin got the dames in the house all worked up whenever he belted this one out.)
6. Otis Gayle - I'll Be Around (Low-key lover's rock take on the Detroit Spinners classic. Gayle plays it straight down the line, but adds a lilting ska facet to the soul standard.)
7. Owusu & Hannibal - Le Fox (Bubbling, smoky soul from Ubiquity's Danish duo. Their album from last year, Living With... is one that I've only recently discovered. One of 2006's most slept-on gems.)
8. Blue Six - Fast Free Delivery (The lyrics are pure fromage, but the groove is addictive. Reminds me of some Acid Jazz stuff, actually. Not as bad a thing as you might be thinking.)
9. Soul II Soul - Fairplay (The tune that got one of Britain's best ever soul acts a record deal still sounds like it could light up any dancefloor in the known world, despite being nineteen years old now.)
10. William Onyeabor - Body And Soul (Ten-plus minutes of pure, uncut African funk. You know it makes sense.)
11. James Brown - Hell (You've got to love a song that starts with a gong being struck, but there's no need to seek an excuse to like this tough, funky little unit.)
12. Little Milton - More And More (Blues-flecked funky soul number from one of music's true greats who never really got the dues he deserved. Time to rectify that, I think.)
13. Caetano Veloso - Outro (From Veloso's 2006 album, Ce, this sounds like The Strokes transplanted to Rio at carnival time. Great stuff.)
14. Lavender Diamond - Like An Arrow (Menacing, lurching, folk-funk from the band's superb debut album, Imagine Our Love, out tomorrow on Rough Trade.)
15. Claudine Longet - God Only Knows (Longet's story is a strange one that takes in Andy Williams, the Folies Bergeres and criminally negligent homicide. There isn't a dash of her colourful life in this very French version of The Beach Boys' perennial though.)
16. Fifty Foot Hose - God Bless The Child (Yep, a psychedelic, bad trip run through of the Billie Holiday tune. It's done fairly straight but with loads of added weird moog effects.)
17. The National - Start A War (Matt Berninger is easily one of the best singers and lyricists in American rock music right now and this cut from the forthcoming Boxer album is just one of the reasons why.)

DISC TWO

1. Colourbox - Looks Like We're Shy One Horse (This post-punk/dub/spaghetti western epic is one of my favourite songs of all time and I don't think I've ever put it on a mixtape before. "You brought two too many". A wink and a thumbs-up to anyone who can name the film the dialogue is taken from in the comments box.)
2. Seko Molenga And Kalo Kawongolo - Moto Ya Motema (In 1977, Lee Perry apparently stumbled upon these two Zairean musicians after they had been abandoned by their manager in Kingston. He took them into his Black Ark and got them to cut a record with The Upsetters. This is just part of the result of those sessions, but it should be enough to urge you to seek out the album.)
3. Gina X Performance - Nice Mover (Slinky as fuck, this art-disco groover was so far ahead of its time that we're still catching up.)
4. My Sister Klaus - Call Yourself (Everything on My Sister Klaus' debut album, Chateau Rouge sounds like a pastiche, but in a good way. This is his mid-70s Bowie tune.)
5. !!! - Heart Of Hearts (The Brothers Mix) (The Brothers take the hectic punk-funk original and slow it down to a nice, dreamy pace, ditching the vocal on the way. In fact, it's pretty much unrecognisable. Like a completely different song.)
6. Diskjokke - Once More With Violence (The highlight from Jokke's Heft & Plunder EP on Kindisch, this is a tech-y, space-disco number that is just another in a long line of bombs from the fjords.)
7. Sorcerer - Surfing At Midnight (Trippy, Balearic disco from the Tirk stable. The Prins Thomas miks on the flip is worth a look, but it's the original that I prefer.)
8. Magnus International - Kosmetisk (What is in the water up there?! I'm fucking moving to Norway as soon as I can.)
9. Howard Wales - Rendezvous With The Sun (Another tune that begins with a gong, this is a surging sci-fi funk number favoured by DJ Harvey. Anything he gives the seal of approval to is good enough for me.)
10. Ahmad - Back In The Day (Remix) ("Jerome, Jerome, put on that Bobby Womack!")
11. Funkadelic - I'm Never Gonna Tell It (Really digging this one at the moment. Thanks to Royksopp for putting it on their Back To Mine mix.)
12. Lindstrom & Prins Thomas - Mighty Girl (As featured on the upcoming Reinterpretations collection, this is the one with those arpeggios that just will not quit. One of my personal L&PT faves.)
13. Marshall Jefferson Vs. Noosa Heads - Mushrooms (Salt City Orchestra Remix) ("And I never saw that girl again.... And I never took a mushroom again" Absolute classic.)

Sunday's Mixtape, Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space

Mixtape Week: Saturday

Something a bit special for you today. It's a double disc mixtape, all uploaded into one nifty, almost-200mb zip file for you. Hey, it's Saturday! Play this when you're getting ready to go out.


YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: SATURDAY

DISC ONE

1. Chin Chin - Toot D'Amore (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) (Yet another Diskomiks from the venerable Maj. Swellings. Definitely the most prolific producer on the dance music scene in 2007 puts in one more sterling re-make to raise his profile even further. All hail the Prins!)
2. L.T.D. - Love To The World (Orchestral disco-soul music from the '70s. A bit of a lost gem, recently discovered via the superb And It Don't Stop blog. Spend a few hours over there, it's a goldmine.)
3. Bob & Gene - Your Name (Effervescent, careening teen-soul from a largely forgotten early-60s act. Sounds like the wheels could fall off at any given moment, but the funky energy brings it through to the premature finish line.)
4. Jackson Sisters - I Believe In Miracles (Single Version) (One of those tracks that the more savvy soul DJs drop to make the dancefloor go crazy. You'll have heard it loads of times, but you won't be able to put your finger on where. It'll just bring back hazy memories of bad dancing, sticky floors and making passes at people you shouldn't really have made passes at. That's a good thing by the way.)
5. Aaliyah - More Than A Woman (Timbaland's recent car-crash solo album, Shock Value made me dig into his older productions to remember why I loved him in the first place. True, he took more than a few cues from Discovery-era Daft Punk on this one, but it stops short of plagiarism by Mr Mosley stamping it with a few of his own trademarks. Also, Aaliyah knocks the vocal out of the park.)
6. Rihanna feat. Jay-Z - Umbrella (Clean) (Jay-Z's descent into rap dinosaur status can't stop this from being one of the most effortlessly brilliant r'n'b tracks of the year so far. It's all about the drums, baby!)
7. Santogold - Creator (All over the blogosphere like a rash at the moment, it's the new M.I.A.! That's probably a bit unfair, because it's a great tune in its own right. Breaks stalwart, Freq Nasty is on production duties too.)
8. Hot Chip - My Piano (Proving that The Warning was no fluke, their first new single since that album carries on the good work. One of Alexis' most heart-bruised vocals to date glides atop a stop-start drum beat, fuzz bass and some Italo-house piano work.)
9. The Juan Maclean - Give Me Every Little Thing (Juan's in danger of becoming the DFA's forgotten man, so I thought I'd give his best tune to date another airing. The best song that Talking Heads and Daft Punk never wrote together.)
10. Crazy Penis - You Started Something (God, I miss Paperecordings. One of Manchester's best ever labels has been defunct for many a year now, but this still makes me all misty-eyed. Good times.)
11. Dorfmeister Vs. MDLA - Boogie No More (Reverso 68 Remix) (Yet more Balearic magic from Pete Herbert and Phil Mison, this time working over Dorfmeister and Madrid de los Austrias' cover of Brooke Valentine's disco classic. Pure gold.)
12. Baby Oliver - Primetime (Uptown Express) (New-ish on Environ, this is rumoured to be Morgan Geist acting under an assumed name. It sure sounds like him. Well, at least it sounds like Metro Area after a noseload of amyl nitrate.)
13. Kalabrese - Auf Dem Hof (This track acts all low-key, but really there's a big colourful tech-funk tune waiting to bust out. It almost does when those horns kick in, but that would be far too crass.)
14. Inner Life feat. Jocelyn Brown - Ain't No Mountain High Enough (Larry Levan's Garage Mix) (Absolutely epic disco take on a soul standard. More peaks than the Pyrenees.)

DISC TWO

1. Elektrons - Get Up (Teriffic broken-beat/hip-hop/soul bomb from Luke and Justin Unabomber in their band guise. Awesome stuff that deserves to break out of the Manchester ghetto.)
2. Notorious B.I.G. - Party & Bullshit (Ratatat Remix) (Bigger than an elephant. Just absolutely fucking huge!)
3. Felice Taylor - I Can Feel Your Love (Get the talc out, it's a Northern Soul standard that makes me want to neck a load of bennies and get my spin on.)
4. Lyn Collins - Rock Me Again & Again & Again (James Brown's protege almost breaks out from the Godfather's shadow here, but you can hear him on backing vocals. Funkier than a mosquito's tweeter.)
5. Bush Tetras - You Can't Be Funky ("... If you haven't got soul", so say the Bush Tetras. Never a truer word was spoken. Fortunately, Bush Tetras got soul by the bowlful.)
6. Escort - A Bright New Life (I'm starting to think now that this is my favourite Escort release so far. That'll probably change when I get my hands on the newie, 'All Through The Night' in a couple of weeks. That debut album couldn't come soon enough.)
7. Chaz Jankel - Ai No Corrida (Extended Version) (Camp as a row of tents cover of the Quincy Jones/James Ingram hit from the erstwhile Blockhead. This is what every song should be like.)
8. Antena - Camino Del Sol (Joakim Remix) (Ascending to modern classic status recently, don't come knocking if you're expecting something like Joakim's own compositions. This one's like early Chicago acid, filtered through Joakim's own, very-European sensibility and it's been a staple of all the best DJs' sets since last year.)
9. Faze Action - In The Trees (Carl Craig Remix) (A masterclass in building anticipation and tension, Craig must be able to do this kind of stuff in his sleep by now, but the words 'Carl Craig Remix' still raise a record's must-have value.)
10. Robert Babicz - Sin (The man formerly known as Rob Acid brings the enticing darkness on this deliciously addictive slab of techno.)
11. Booka Shade - Tickle (A-side from their first single of new material since Movements mines a darker seam of minimal house than the highlights from that album. It shows a bit more diversity at a point where Booka Shade could have just succumbed to coasting.)
12. Kaos - Panopeeps (Shit Robot Remix) (If you can listen to this without gurning and doing the rave hand gestures (little fish, big fish, cardboard box) then you're a better man than I am.)
13. Blackstrobe - Last Club On Earth (Letting Ivan Smagghe go has proven to be a bit of a bollock dropped as the new Blackstrobe album is a crushing disappointment. This is no 'Innerstrings', but it's the best of a bad bunch and is surprisingly rousing for what is ostensibly a goth-rock outfit now.)

Saturday's Mixtape, Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space (new link!)

N.B.: Turns out I've labelled the Booka Shade track wrong. It really is supposed to be on the second disc. Honest.

Mixtape Week: Friday

The weekend starts here...

YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: FRIDAY

1. Battles - Atlas (Lead-off cut from Battles' superb upcoming debut full-length proper, Mirrored and former Single Of The Week on these very pages, 'Atlas' as most of you will know by now, is probably the strangest song since 'Windowlicker' to ever be considered 'catchy'. You'll be singing along, even if you don't know the words and, apart from Tyondai Braxton, who does?)
2. Bad Brains - Pay To Cum! (Probably one of the most enduring songs from the hardcore punk scene of the early-80s, this still has the power to get people slam-dancing from fifty paces.)
3. Flipper - Way Of The World (A slack, loose groove keeps this one plodding along evilly. A precursor to the grunge movement that plaid-clad throwbacks would do well not to forget.)
4. The Afghan Whigs - John The Baptist (The forthcoming Afghan Whigs retrospective, Unbreakable made me dig out my old copy of 1965, only to find that it still stood up pretty well. This soul-flecked slice of sex-rock is libido writ large and no-one writes rock music as pervy as Greg Dulli used to anymore. Might be a good thing.)
5. Magazine - Definitive Gaze (This, the opening track from Magazine's debut, Real Life sounds like a wrestling match between John McGeoch's scratchy, ratty guitar, Bob Dickinson's ornate, semi-futuristic keyboard swathes and Barry Adamson's fluid, restless bassline, with Devoto acting as passive, self-serving, sneering referee. Thrilling stuff, thirty years on.)
6. David Bowie - Black Country Rock (Largely forgotten footnote of Bowie's career, 'Black Country Rock' is often passed over as a bit of an anomaly on the weighty The Man Who Sold The World album. It's breezy blues-rock is hard not to like though.)
7. The Zombies - Care Of Cell 44 (Flower-power pop about a lover coming back from prison. Not standard lyrical concerns for this time in musical history really. All the better for it too.)
8. April March - Chick Habit (From the soundtrack to Tarantino's half of Grindhouse, Death Proof, this is a surf-y, campy take on Gainsbourg's 'Laisse Tomber Les Filles', only with, like, English lyrics and stuff. Kewl!)
9. Os Mutantes - Trem Fantasma (Queasy, psychedelic tropicalia from one of those bands you feel would be a hell of a lot more revered had they been British or American. Having said that, they probably wouldn't have been this good if they weren't from Brazil.)
10. Map Of Africa - Black Skin Blue-Eyed Boys (It's been nearly two years since this was released, but I still manage to hear it pretty much every time I go to a club. Tells you just how great it is, really.)
11. Baby Huey - Hard Times (When James Ramey sings about the hard times, you believe it as Baby Huey is probably one of the most tragic figures in the history of soul music. Dead at 26, with only one album under his belt, he was snatched away before he could really get going.)
12. Jeru Tha Damaja - D. Original (Still one of DJ Premier's oddest, most off-kilter production jobs is this cut from Jeru's superb debut, The Sun Rises In The East. It's the creepy, off-key piano sample that gets me every time.)
13. Nas - It Ain't Hard To Tell (If there was ever any doubt of Illmatic's influence and enduring popularity, you should check out the album's Wikipedia entry. Ten tracks, including this, the closer, and out. All killer, no filler.)
14. A Tribe Called Quest - Award Tour (Midnight Marauders was always my favourite Quest album. Just a stone-cold classic.)
15. Ta-raach & The Lovelution - Merci Me Lord (I should have put this after the Jeru track, as it shares a similarly herky-jerky piano lick, this time on an electric one. Highly impressive, none-more-Detroit hip-hop from one of this year's best hip-hop albums so far.)
16. Devin The Dude - Almighty Dollar (Aside from Devin's irrepressible, addictive flow, it's just nice to hear a rapper bemoaning his lack of money, rather than bragging about how much he has.)
17. Prodigy - Mac 10 Handle (I've never been a massive fan of Prodigy's style. He always seems to be clumsily struggling for the next rhyme, but his new album, Return Of The Mac is all about the production. Crystal clear, smoking funk samples are the order of the day, so you can overlook the pimp-ish lyrics.)
18. Dr. Dre - Nuthin' But A G Thang (feat. Snoop Doggy Dogg) ("It's like this and like that and like this and-uh". I don't know why it says featuring, when this is clearly Snoop's song. The sound of a talent announcing his arrival to the world. If only he could recapture the brilliance he essays here.)
19. Domino - Sweet Potatoe Pie (Despite taking the Dan Quayle spelling class, Domino could really hit it when he wanted to. His first album wasn't exactly a West Coast classic, but it had some really great stuff on it, like this. I still think of the video everytime I hear it, with Domino walking down a line of booty-bouncing babes and gin-glugging homies while singing to the camera. Can't find it on YouTube though. If anyone can find it, please let me know, I need a nostalgia hit.)
20. Eric B & Rakim - Juice (I Know The Ledge) (Talking of nostalgia, this always brings to mind the hyper-kinetic opening credits sequence from the film it's named for. One of the most-overlooked films of the 90s, by everyone other than 2pac and Omar Epps fans. "You got the juice now man!")
21. O.C. - Time's Up (Ending our all-nostalgia triple-header, I've actually found the video to this one though. What the hell was with all those guys sat on the floor in the dark, nodding their heads? Looks like a samurai meeting or something.)

Friday's Mixtape, Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space (new link!)

Mixtape Week: Thursday

Today is Thursday and you know what that means. It means that we're now past the half-way mark in our mixtape week (aww!). Fret not, however, as today's is a corker, featuring kickarse tunes from the likes of Larry Heard, Kathy Diamond and Harry Nilsson, alongside others. Tuck in!


YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: THURSDAY

1. Arto Mwambe - Ombala Mbembo (More technoid badness from Mwambe's superlative Mudhutma! double-header. One of the finest releases of the year so far, make no mistake.)
2. Moodymann - Technologystolemyvinyle (To fill out Kenny Dixon Jr's prophecy, we have a fully digitised version of his new one that really has to be experienced on vinyl. Hey, new Moodymann is a big deal and not everyone has a record player. We're performing a service here!)
3. Frivolous - Sooo Savey (Jazzy, grinding minimal house, featuring one of the best cheesy/great vocals I've heard in quite some time.)
4. Blackjoy - The Bears (Snaking, downtempo disco-house from France's Blackjoy, taken from the latest in Freerange Records' Colours Series: Green. All it needs now is a Prins Thomas remix. Actually, scratch that, it's pretty perfect as it is.)
5. Larry Heard Presents Mr White - The Sun Can't Compare (Can't believe that it's taken this long for me to put this 2007 DJ mix standard (recently spotted leaving the competition for dust on Dixon's Body Language Vol. 4 and Ellen Allien's Fabric 34) on a mixtape. Found it and loved it last November-ish, but it rightfully takes pride of place here. Better late than never.)
6. Simian Mobile Disco - I Believe (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) (Thomas gives the original a bit of a slo-mo acid-jacking groove workout feel, without taking away any of the stuff that made the original such a perfect pop tune.)
7. ESG - Moody (Spaced Out) (No-one does minimalist grooves quite like ESG and this is one of their best, as evidenced by the amount of times it's been sampled.)
8. Harry Nilsson - Jump Into The Fire (As covered by LCD Soundsystem but even they couldn't improve on the original that features one of the most badarse basslines in the history of badarse basslines.)
9. Babe Ruth - The Mexican (It's easy to see why the drum break was such a staple of the early b-boy sound. For a rock band from Hatfield, this is hell of funky.)
10. Kathy Diamond - On & On (Still loving this clav-soaked smoky soul number from Diamond's immense debut album. You all should check her out on the 27th at Po Na Na in Manchester. I'll be there. Will you?)
11. Frost - Modesty (This, the opener from new album, Love! Revolution! seems to take forever to build, but when the release does eventually come, it's totally devastating. Frost do that low-key grace thing so well that it ain't even funny.)
12. The Mary Onettes - Lost (This couldn't be more New Order if Peter Hook was on bass and Martin Hannett was producing from beyond the grave. Totally derivative but great stuff all the same.)
13. New Order - Bizarre Love Triangle (Shep Pettibone Remix) (As heard on Hot Chip's DJ-Kicks mix, this doesn't so much improve on the original as just extend all the best bits. The way a good remix should be really.)

Thursday's Mixtape, Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space (new link!)

Mixtape Week: Wednesday

Today's mixtape is a rockier affair than the previous two days. Guitar overload, just below the picture of Wednesday Addams. Y'see what I did there?


YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: WEDNESDAY

1. Dan Deacon - Wooody Wooodpecker (Idiot-savant laptop-popper, Dan Deacon is currently one of the most blogged-about artists around. His stuff can sometimes be a little too manic for my liking and it often feels like you really shouldn't be listening, let alone actually enjoying it. The opener of his new album, Spiderman Of The Rings, 'Wooody Wooodpecker', however, just has to be heard to be believed. Try it. You might not understand it, but hey, you might just like it.)
2. OOIOO - Uma (Eye Mix 1) (Eye from The Boredoms gives the standout from last year's OOIOO album, Taiga a stroboscopic, tribal-trance-rave makeover. Can never get enough of those crazy, chanting Japanese women.)
3. Von Sudenfed - Flooded ("The other DJ needed a god-damn rubber sheet because he pissed the fuckin' bed". Mark E. Smith = Genius.)
4. Nine Inch Nails - My Violent Heart (NIN's new album, Year Zero, is the first one that I've ever really given a decent amount of attention to. I've just never really warmed to the overgrown adolescent schtick that Reznor has previously peddled. 'My Violent Heart' is a blitzkrieg-ing show of power from a band who have found a new, more likeable lyrical focus though and just one of the reasons why I think that Year Zero is the best mainstream rock album of the year so far.)
5. Holy Fuck - Frenchy's (A malevolent electro-noise stomp from Holy Fuck's recent self-titled EP, that's a marked improvement on their debut album from 2005. Expect this one to win a fair few new converts.)
6. Soft Circle - Earthed (Blackened, percussive, leftfield dance music from Hisham Barroocha (Black Dice). Like Liquid Liquid, raised on Dario Argento films.)
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Sun Lips (The highlight of their patchy new album, Dandelion Gum, this is a queasy, psychedelic slice of trip-hoppy strangeness.)
8. Sapat - Dark Silver (This track is a loose-groove, funky oasis of focus amidst the aimless jams of Sapat's current album, Mortise And Tenon. One of the most surprising finds of the year.)
9. Turzi - Animal Signal (More about this one soon, but for now, I'll just say that Turzi's album, A is the third album of dark, prog-inflected psyche-rock to emerge this year, after My Sister Klaus and Joakim.)
10. Neu! - Hero (Klaus Dinger's proto-punk classic from the second side of Neu! '75 is as menacing and ahead of its time now as it was back then. Brilliant.)
11. 120 Days - Get Away (Norway's 120 Days ally their kraut-y excesses to a love of '80s acts like Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure and Jesus & Mary Chain, leaving 'Get Away' sounding like it would be at home both on the soundtrack to a John Hughes film and a Werner Herzog film. A recipe for success, if ever I've heard one.)
12. Parts & Labor - Fractured Skies (Blistering, late-Husker Du-style anthemics from P&L's third and best album, Mapmaker. Owner of one of the best chord changes I've heard in a long time.)
13. Pissed Jeans - A Bad Wind (Pissed Jeans are the band your mother warned you about; a vicious blend of Mudhoney proto-grunge and the crunch of black metal. New album, Hope For Men is a coruscating listen, but one that reaffirms your faith in good old-fashioned rock 'n' roll sickness.)
14. Big Business - Hands Up (Big Business make a hell of a lot of noise with just bass and drums and come off a bit like Lightning Bolt writing songs for Motley Crue, with their hair metal-esque vocals. Fist-pumping and artful. Not as bad a combo as it sounds.)
15. Clutch - Power Player (Clutch borrow their riffs from ZZ Top, but there are worse acts to crib from. No-one really does this kind of bluesy man-rock as good as these guys do right now.)
16. Queens Of The Stone Age - A Song For The Dead (One of Dave Grohl's finest ever performances behind the drum kit is on this cut from QOTSA's best album to date, Songs For The Deaf. While we wait on Era Vulgaris, let's remind ourselves why this band is one of the best rock bands of the noughties.)
17. Johnny Thunders - Pipeline (Rocketing cover of the surf-rock classic from the sadly-missed Thunders. Recently heard on The Sopranos too.)
18. The Pink Mountaintops - Single Life (Recent single from Stephen McBean that cuts a psyche groove not heard since '69. It's a happening!)
19. The Sonics - Boss Hoss (Rounding things off with a track from the first punk band. Every song sounded the same but it was a trick worth repeating, I'm sure you'll agree.)

Wednesday's Mixtape, Ripped, Zipped And Sent Into Space (new link!)

Mixtape Week: Tuesday

Today's mixtape is a confection of strange, delightful sounds that you should all enjoy, so git downloading!


YER MAM!'S MIXTAPE WEEK: TUESDAY

1. Deerhunter - Octet (I'm slowly waking up to the brilliance of Deerhunter's latest album, Cryptograms. It's taken a while to get its hooks into me, but I guess it's that kind of record. This is my current favourite, a propulsive exercise in post-rock build-sustain-release that displays the mastery at work.)
2. Alex Delivery - Komad (This song sounds like it was made by Boces-era Mercury Rev, using only busted, rusted cogs and machinery and it's essentially about three songs in one. This just adds to the rickety, adventurous charm of a song that lasts ten minutes but feels about half that.)
3. Tuna Laguna - My Lunar Boots (If you can imagine a post-rockin' Super Furry Animals, then you're halfway to getting what 'My Lunar Boots' actually sounds like. Sounds like summer too and there's not many rock instrumentals that you can say that about.)
4. Midlake - Roscoe (Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve Remix) (Alkan and Norris just basically strip away the guitar from the original and make the keys sound a little more trippy, but it's a nice take on the song. You can't improve on perfection but you can look at it from a different angle.)
5. The Cure - Lullaby ("A nice singalong song", according to one of my work colleagues. I'd prefer to call it one of the creepiest songs ever to make the top five in the UK singles chart.)
6. Modulo 1000 - Nao Fale Con Paredes (My very limited grasp of Portuguese (which stems from a slightly better understanding of Spanish) takes the title of this song to mean 'Don't Talk To Walls'. Am I right? Probably not, but, language barrier be damned, this is some seriously psychedelic acid-prog-carioca madness right here.)
7. Mott The Hoople - Bastard (A Mountain Of One Edit) (Courtesy of Best Foot Forward, this gives Mott The Hoople's 70s badass blues-rock palatable for the Bumrocks crowd. Great job!)
8. Arpadys - Monkey Star (Now a staple of any self-respecting beardo DJ's set, it's still as futuristic and forward-thinking a disco track as it was in 1977.)
9. Easy Going - Fear (Serge Santiago Re-Edit) (Deep, twisted, Italo disco re-edited for maximum dancefloor effect by the man who's done more edits than most of us have had hot dinners. Tasty!)
10. Camouflage - You've Got The Power (I heart Tom Moulton and this is just one reason why. Pure class.)
11. Prince - Controversy (Because I had to fit Prince in somewhere this week after having Andre Cymone on yesterday's mixtape. 'Controversy' seemed as good a song as any, as it pretty much sums up the androgynous sex dwarf in it's "People call me rude/I wish we all were nude/I wish there was no black and white/I wish there were no rules" hook.)
12. Nico - These Days (Capping things off with one of the saddest songs ever written. You can feel the regret and remorse dripping from every note. Beautiful.)

Yer Mam!'s Mixtape Week: Tuesday Ripped, Zipped and Gigasized (new link!)

In other news: Read some reviews of mine...

Pop Levi live on The Console.

Black Lips live on High Voltage.

Electrelane, No Shouts No Calls album review, also on High Voltage.