goin' back

re-posted from the ever interesting GOOD magazine.
There's lessons here for every country.

Amongst the Slush

Things are continuing apace, albeit quietly. Everything's hidden beneath a layer of snow, or slush.
Meanwhile, you can chart the depressing curve of less and less frequent blog entries!

Recently, I've been charged with two Max Tundra related mix projects -

A) Coming up with an hour or so of tracks to play between bands at 'One Night with Max Tundra' at Cargo, London.
(facebook invite here)
Me and the "psychic deejay", Pete Um are to fulfill our roles as mp3 / vinyl jockeys. REAL deejaying will be supplied later, by Silverlink and G£nuin£ Guy respectively.

B) Coming up with some mixtapes to make the long drives on my January / February Uk Tour with Ben more bearable. How will i be able to resolve the inner desire to geek out with the sensible notion of actually having listenable / relaxing music on the player?

So i'll be posting some new mixes in order to try these out here, soon!
Comments, please!

Oh and any Glasgow pals still needing something to do on new years eve, please come along to THIS

remix! - Love Lockdown *edit*

I read this article in the guardian last week, regarding Kanye West's new album and how his ambition has transcended hip hop, heralding the birth of a new musical genre, "pop-art".
Now, while not being a huge fan of Kanye, I think he's generally got the right idea this time - Its awesome to see a big name star of his status, openly calling for progression and change in both the hip hop and indeed pop music communities. 95% of UK and US top forty singles are pap nowadays, so this can only be a good thing. Let's hope it provokes a bit of competition too - If Kanye is aiming to be the noughties Phil Collins, maybe 50 Cent can get way into world music and take on the mantle of Peter Gabriel.

To get 'em started, here's my remix of Kanye's Love Lockdown.

oh, and re: Tom's question, I'm not convinced that mr West has what it takes to single handedly pioneer a new genre, nor do i think hip hop particularly needs saving - Maybe Kanye's statement can be seen as challenge or a catalyst to others, to keep striving for originality and keep creative. Whatever grandiose and inflated opinions K. West might have of himself, its nice to see pop music holding a mirror up to itself again.




p.s I tried to make it sound like Alexander O'Neal.

Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy, Beansy

Today's episode of the BBC 4 show, 'Fags, Mags and Bags', a comedy by Sanjeev Kohli and Donald Macleary, had me spitting out tea and weeping over the radio.
Have a listen here

MUSIC WEEKS II

In the spirit of yesterday's generosity, i'm putting up old material thats cluttering up my hard drive up for free on Last.fm

Click the picture above to get 2005's "Watermelon Dude Zone" album, for free. Tell a pal.

MUSIC WEEKS

Sorry for being so slack at updating! I've been able to stop procrastinating this afternoon, after sending away a huge envelope of receipts, travel documents and police reports to my insurance company. More about that later.

Firstly, I spent some time today updating the Last.fm page for Ben Butler and Mouse Pad today, there's a bunch of songs and some better info up there now!
Click the photo above (taken by Martin D, thanks buddy!) to go there!

Oh, there's also a few new tracks for free download from Germlin if yr into that sort of thing.

Oh, and to celebrate, here's some mixtapes (Not from me, my Ipod got stolen along with a lot of other important stuff in france, i'm still building up my collection of tracks from scratch pretty much, yikes).

MAX TUNDRA RADIO MIX
A promotional mix by Max Tundra (and G£nuin£ Guy to celebrate the release of his new album, 'Parallax Error Beheads You', out on Domino.
Poached from the ever wonderful20 Jazz Funk Greats.

The Very Best Mixtape"
Awesome mixtape by Radioclit and Esau Mwamwaya, Great Dubplates and sweet, sweet vocals.
Poached from the reliably awesome Lower End Spasm

surprise!

joemus album is ready!

The album i worked on this year with Nick Currie, aka Momus is available now, on pre-order, from Darla Records , Cherry Red records , Amazon US and Amazon UK.

I'm really proud of how the record came out!
Here's the blurb from the record label:

"The new Momus album, Joemus, is a collaboration between the veteran electronic vaudevillian and Joe Howe, a young Glasgow breakcore musician known for his work with Gay Against You and Germlin. Asked, back in 2007, to do a cover version for a limited edition box set called Recovery, Momus called on the young Scot's services to make a cover of David Bowie's Ashes to Ashes, which turned out "not so much a pop song as a ping pong match between Coco the Clown and Major Tom... a series of satistfying thwack and plock and boiiiiiing noises," according to Momus. The Bowie cover isn't on Joemus, but the Nintendo Glam Rock feel -- and the odd noises -- persist. The pair worked over the internet, then spent several weeks together in Berlin fine-tuning the results. The Joemus album sounds like the hits of 70s Scottish glam rock sensations The Bay City Rollers played on 80s amusement arcade equipment. Joe's frenetic, ADD-addled jams get turned by Momus into folk jigs, but the fast numbers alternate with tenderly morose slowies, covers of Cliff Richard ballads and Ryuichi Sakamoto croons. Then it's back to the beats-and-edits frenzy, and tales of horror, from Dracula (a duet with Groopie Kyoka Kyoka) to Ichabod Crane. The result may be the most satisfying pop album Momus has ever made -- but only if your definition of pop tends to the edgy, jumpy, fresh, and weird."

finding diamonds in the right mines for mind diamonds

On the flight from Glasgow Prestwick to Dublin, my pal Lachlann challenged me to come up with eight song titles and an album title, for a new record he's planning. Here's the results!

Album title: "Hiding dimes in time for finding China" by Yoko, oh no!

1 - poop-poop deck
2- getting along with the masai mara
3- shops-at-knox
4- owen
5- an account of an rescue
6- pig's ear blues
7- sorry, i staying clever
8- my waist

I hope they are suitably inspiring!

Return'd

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, i'm just back from Holland, having got back from London, having moved to Aberdeen, having come back from Stavanger, having left Berlin, where i was staying for a few months. Its hectic!
Anyway, a new mixtape, photos and some info on Torry coming soon!
In the meantime, VBS's Epicly Later'd is back and i'm getting into it!