because i am aware Plan B readers annex dancefloors and defy science in their pursuit of physical expression, presented here is a deft YouTube video made to accompany current issue interviewee Yelle’s ‘A Cause Des Garcon’ (albeit remixed to brutality).

you can find further adventures of dancers treaxy & vavan (it seems the other is called St4nl3y94 unless anyone knows any better..?) here. annnnyway, once you’ve watched once or twice, you’ll probably have assimilated the routine into yr repetoire and can go forth bravely into the night.

plz note, Plan B accepts no responsibility for hernias or shallow and exhausting relationships incurred through the application of these manoeuvres.

Posted by kicking_k on Friday, October 26th, 2007
(No Comments)

1. Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians Of The British Empire - Christmas 1979 (Damaged Goods)
The best fucken Christmas single you’ll ever hear, this side of Otis Redding stuttering his way through ‘White Christmas’ and that Sonic Youth one about copping dope. Oh, and anything from that James Brown album. Well, whatever. The best fucken Christmas garage rock single you’ll ever hear, this side of The Sonics (the Sixties ones) and Jon Spencer shafting ‘Blue Christmas’. Whatever. The best fucken Christmas single you’ll hear this year, for damn sure.

2. Wild Beasts - Assembly (Domino)
Outrageously outrageous voice, chirruping and wailing delightedly away to itself like yr scary (and slightly sexy) Aunt Maude at bath time, over a rollicking jaunty and upbeat tune.

3. Ed Askew - Little Eyes (De Stijl)
From the Seventies: the exact point where Bob Dylan intersects with Daniel Johnston.

4. Dial - 168K (Cede)
Medium level noise and a wee smattering of skronk no wave guitar from ex-members of UT, God and Furious Pig. Raw, cathartic and mesmeric.

5. Acolytes Action Squad - Winkle Time (Early Winter Recordings)
Remember Effi Briest? Remember Nista Nije Nista? Remember the idea of experimentation being fun? Murky, meticulously deconstructed, angelic, zoological rock that’s 50 times even better…um. It’s not a competition, you know.

6. Ted Milton - Odes
The Blurt front-man/saxophonist/damn fine genius returns with a series of gentle, measured, rather unsettling entreaties to heart tattoos and lipstick and bruised skies, that’s approximately 50,000 times more interesting and entertaining than I’ve just made it sound.
Everett True

Posted by Everett True on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
(1 Comment)

a day late, but with extra love, this week’s new artiste Q+A comes from lonelady, who’ll soon be swelling the ranks of the too pure singles club. enlightenment follows.

Who is lonelady? What are you onstage or instudio that you’re not while off-duty, secret identity, etc?

LoneLady in the first instance was one person recording music with a drum machine, various intruments and a 4-track in a flat. The first single ‘Hi Ho Bastard’ was released by Filthy Home before LoneLady had ever played live. In the next phase I played live for a year or so alone with a drum machine. This included a trip to SXSW, Texas. These gigs were isolating experiences, aurally and visually: was waiting for the right musicians to join. Then the skies delivered Oid: LoneLady morphed from a two to finally a threepiece, and currently features Oid (Ur-drums+energy) and China Tom (atmospherics+ wisdom). Relatively the same off and onstage, we are good/bad.

Where are you from? How did that shape/inspire/injure you? What?s the best thing about there? Where are you aimed next?

Manchester. Manchester’s music legacy we all know about. I’m a fan of Factory, its bands and ‘ideology’, Martin Hannett in particular. These figures provide a great inspiration and focus for me. However, as much a fan as I am, Manchester - and London - needs to focus on music that’s happening in Manchester now, not the past… Visually, the mill-relics from the cotton industry are beautiful; perfect spaces for the creativity that Manchester makes so much claim to. But it seems that the landlord mafia won’t be happy until every last mill is an apartment conversion and bands have absolutely nowhere to practise…. I have no current plans to leave Manchester.

What makes you more special and unique than all the other legions of artistes and outfits queuing to be friendly on MySpace?

Myspace is a great resource for all bands. LoneLady operates and tries to move onwards and improve and develop all the time. I can’t really answer this question beyond that.

Who are yr main ?influences?? (Or, who have you come together to DESTROY?) Which other new bands would you recommend (if any)?

Early R.E.M. PiL, Gang of Four, early Throwing Muses, early New Order,’The Marble Index’ by Nico, Josef K, Tindersticks, Suicide… I love loads of stuff, and am discovering new bands all the time; it’s a never-ending journey. Lately I’ve been listening to/discovered ESG, Young Marble Giants, Steve Reich, Pylon - all amazing. I’ve been lucky enough recently to have played guitar on a string of dates with Stranger Son of WB, also from Manchester - they are great.

What d?you think of the current music scene? How will you fit in
(or not)?

I feel it isn’t necessarily my ‘job’ to keep up with current and new bands. There’s so many of them for a start. I meet bands I play with and via Myspace. I think there’s a lot of people in bands who, in two or three year’s time will be in a job and not even be thinking about music; ie I think there’s a lot of people playing at being in a band. And that’s fine for them, but it makes shit listening for the rest of us. I think it can be good to have bands that implode within a year - if that’s because they’ve been incendiary and intense like The Birthday Party or super fucked-up like Teenage Jesus and the Jerks but…I don’t see those type of people. For me I value substantiality, development, looking at the bigger picture. I have no idea how LoneLady fits in (or otherwise) in Manchester.

What is: a) Yr three-point manifesto, b) Yr immediate plan-of-
action? c) Yr long-term goal?

For LoneLady: a) action+focus, b) work on new songs, always the main thing, c) a sense of creative achievement not necessarily related to sales figures, etc.

What are yr songs mostly, y?know, ?about?? What?s the song (so
far) that says the most about you and why?

Mortality, energy, fear, anger, weirdness. I like lyrics that are oblique and a bit odd. I love the way the recording sounds and the one-word chorous (’Intuition’). Use of own mind vs. impassable terrains.

Posted by kicking_k on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
(1 Comment)

That there’s a stripped down Hot Chip at David Shrigley’s Worried Noodles show at the Scala a couple of weeks back. This song is ‘No’, the one with the Shrigley lyrics. It’s about having no arms or legs. They also did a really great sorta acoustic version of ‘Boy From School’ but my camera decided to swallow it and never spat it out again. Curse thee technology!

Posted by Louis Pattison on Monday, October 22nd, 2007
(No Comments)

Feels like it’s been a year of slow growth and thoughtful consolidation for dubstep, a year where the sound crept outside the borders of the UK (see Melissa Bradshaw’s live review from the US back in Plan B 24), grew its audience (see sold-out FWDs and a packed-out DMZ) or found ways to package and sell itself - see Soul Jazz’s Box Of Dub series, Skull Disco’s Soundboy Punishment compilation, or the likes of Planet Mu’s 10 Tons Heavy.

Keep your ear to the scene and there was the usual microscopic chatter, a spree of fresh dubs every month. But if you were a more distant observer, eager for the next landmark album, 2007 kept you waiting. Then, this week, it all happened. First of all, Underwater Dancehall, the debut album from Pinch, boss of Bristol label Tectonics. Two discs, one dubs and one featuring the same tracks but with vocals mostly yielded from the city’s reggae/soundsystem culture, it’s a record with a real warmth and vitality, a record as identifiably grounded in Bristol as Blue Lines or Maxinquaye. I’ve only listened to it two or three times, but it may also prove to be that good.

And then, the Burial record. Just completing my second spin of Untrue now, but it’s as spectacular as you’d expect - heavier on the vocals than its predecessor, soul boy vox and diva trills altered and tampered, washed out or chopped up, and those euphoric, washy synths moving in slow, gradual tides. They’re both out at the start of November so if you’re compiling your end of year poll, remember (to quote Grace), it’s not over yet.

Posted by Louis Pattison on Thursday, October 18th, 2007
(No Comments)

Who are you (individually and collectively)? What does each member bring to the group? (musical and familial/friend group role plz)

Well, my name’s Allen Roizman… and i’m the guy behind all the buttons. Technically, I’m the only member of the band… but fortunately we live in a modern world… so I’d kind of consider the band being 15-17 copies or clones of myself playing simultaneously with the help of a delay/loop pedal. So sometimes I’m in charge of, I dunno, playing some guitar parts, while a loop I recorded earlier of some noise coming from a phaser pedal or an organ i found in the trash plays.

What are you? Define the essence or spirit of SN!TA.

If you don’t mind the grandeur, I wouldn’t mind being considered a harbringer of the apocalypse… at some point in grade school I read some kind of entry in an encyclopedia that said the world will end in 1996… since then I always thought it was around the corner.

Where are you from? How did that shape/inspire/injure you? What’s the best thing about there? Where are you aimed next?

I was born in Flushing, Queens to Soviet Immigrants. At some point early in my life, my parents moved to Plainview, you’re run-of-the-mill nyc suburb… the people have enough money to not care what they do with it… so I grew up around a lot of arrogant, spoiled, brats… There’s a kind of arrogance that only exsists here. Everyone knows everything here, and everything YOU know is wrong. I made few friends…

There are no cultural centers… just a lot of people buying stuff… and completely satisfied with that. Basically i ended up in the perfect backdrop to just fall into my own head.

Despite all that… there are some nice beaches around here.

How did you first meet? What were yr first impressions of each other? The moment you knew you were *destined* to be in a band together?

My Grandmother had a mirrored cabinet in her living room. Sometimes at dinner I’d look into the mirror until my face looked like it melted. I guess in retrospect, that’s probably the first time I met the me that I’d start a band with.

What makes you more special and unique than all the other legions of bands queuing to be friendly on MySpace?

I don’t think most bands induce out of body experiences.

Who are yr main ‘influences’? (Or, who have you come together to DESTROY?) Which other new bands would you recommend (if any)?

As far as influences go… Godspeed You Black Emperor! came to me at a very immpressionable age… My favorite song is ‘Ceremony’ by New Order… (the 7″ version), Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars is one of my favorite albums.

As far as other NEW bands… the one artist that I’ve been DYING to play a show with is Philadelphia’s Tickley Feather - her split 7″ with Serpents of wisdom (available on badmaster records) is AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING. She recently played shows with Panda Bear, and Animal Collective… so her future’s looking bright… but seriously… buy her 7″ and you’ll fall in love too.

[Additionally, here’s a link to Allen’s comrades in the Ghost Hunters Co-Operative]

What d’you think of the current music scene? How will you fit in (or not)?

I’ve been seeing a lot of change in the music scene lately. The old scene is dying. nobody in NYC wants to see NYC bands. Nobody in Long Island wants to see Long Island bands. They all want to see touring bands. You can’t get a show in the city unless your from, I dunno, Kansas.

Everyone’s signed nowaday, and nowadays there’s definately a backlash building up towards the corporate model of a music industry. Anyhow lots more kids (myself included) are having shows at their houses… exposing more youth to strange intruging sounds that just don’t sell… and so long as their are people who are ambitious enough to be driven by intent and not $$$, then there’ll continually be new eras, new forms of music… and I’m glad I’m a part of that spirit.

What are yr songs mostly, y’know, ‘about’? What’s the song (so far) (um, on yr MySpace page) that says the most about you and why?

This is where it gets tricky. Sometimes I try telling stories… just using abstract sounds… last year I put out a super-limited 90 minute cassette which followed two teenagers’ journey into a barren, war-torn landscape, which eventually ends in the complete annihilation of the planet. I’m a bit obsessive.

I feel like Psychic Teens [the next project] says a lot: I ended up living in my head for most of my life, so I’m so concious of all my thoughts at all time. Psychic Teens is just like that… at first it just sounds like a mess… which my head usually is… but then one sound starts taking prevalence and it decays away as another one replaces it. It’s a fight for control of your ears, for control of your brains. As each sound decays it gets higher pitched and more violent and piercing and once it seems like you can’t take it anymore it all just balances out. There is peace at the end of it.

What is: a) Yr three-point manifesto, b) Yr immediate plan-of-action? c) Yr long-term goal?

a) Part 1- No degree? No Problem. Part 2- one guy with a lot of pedals beats a lot of guys with a lot of makeup anyday. Part 3- make up isn’t really that bad. b) Finish the Psychic Teens LP already. c) Put on Guerilla shows in beach tunnels using generators. yeah!

Best gig/tour/rehearsal anecdote goes here:

So last winter, NYC’s favorite underground venue, Cake Shop, put on a 25 band tribute to Weird Science’s Kelly LeBrock, for which I volunteered to do a set.

So I went on, I played, I hung around a lil while, and then it came time to leave. I wanted to make sure I said goodbye to Andy, the guy who booked the show, and made sure I showed him I appreciated him having me there… So I went into the soundbooth to talk to him and give him a CD. He was busy spinning records, I was facing his back and rather than just wait to get his attention I wrote a quick note on the inside of the sleeve and asked the sound guy to give it to him for me.

As soon as I handed it to the soundguy he pulled the back of Andy’s pants open (boxers included) and shoved the cd straight down his ass. As quickly as the soundguy shoved it into his ass, Andy pulled it out and SLAMMED it into my chest, knocking me out of the soundbooth.

Never rely on a soundguy to make a good impression for you.

Posted by kicking_k on Monday, October 15th, 2007
(1 Comment)

sorry - no midweek weander this week - it will return next wednesday unless the world gets in the way. instead, we’re entering the weekend early - ’cause i say so. switch off yr computers, derail yr workbound trains, perhaps get intoxed this morning - drunkenness at inappropriate, unsocial hours swells into something else, you feel like a celluloid silhouette come detached from the print. oh, and while you’re in the process, listen to this:

HEARTS SYNCHRONIZE #1
a free IT CAME FROM THE SEA mix
23 tracks in 46 minutes and all NEW MUSIC ONLY

invading yr personal space (in order of appearance):
M.I.A., BAG RAIDERS, DIZZEE RASCAL, PHAROAHE MONCH/OPTIMO, THE MICRAGIRLS, DAN DEACON, EVE, GLASS CANDY, ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI, CURSES!, BONDE DO ROLE, THUNDERHEIST, LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, MR. OIZO, DROP THE LIME, CHROME HOOF, BLAQ STARR, DURRTY GOODZ, VON SUDENFED, TETINE, LIARS and JUSTICE.

Click here to eat the whole thing (right-click/save as or download linked file)
and consider it a multiple pile-up and/or luxury trailer for…

IT CAME FROM THE SEA
FRIDAY 12 OCTOBER * 11-3
BRIGHTON KOMEDIA * merely 6/5 pounds
NEXT WAVE INDIE / NEUROTIC ELECTRO / HIP-HOP FUTURISM

here are some new/er/est artistes and outfits we will play besides.

BANGERS & CASH
All I should need to say on this one is - check the MySpace addy. Yup, Bangers + Cash = the new side-project from Spank Rock and Benny Blanco (although prominently featuring Amanda Blank on lead single ‘Loose’). Apparently taking 2 Live Crew’s obsessive pottybass as their template, you shd definitely clean yr ears out to better experience the rising tide of naughties hyperfilth they’re going to mire yr soul in (like, if you click on that link, you’re probably going to hell. Yr call).
www.myspace.com/spankrock

LATE OF THE PIER
Having seen his weekly indie club morph glitchfully into the most imitated party in pretty much any town with a fringe (oh BLAMMO!) and his remixes further hammer his DNA code into the receptive, drug-widened psyches of dancing fun-puppets besides, it was (with hindsight) only a matter of time before Erol Alkan involved himself in the murky business of star-making from scratch. And so, his production job on Late Of The Pier’s ‘Bathroom Gurgle’ amps their post-Klaxons pseudo-mysticism into sci-fi overdrive with all manner of ridiculous space opera climaxes and classic electro-pop tricks. It is, y’know, very frantic, very durrr, very now.
www.myspace.com/lateofthepier

A MOUNTAIN OF ONE
Amassing such continual (and often unlikely - Vice AND Uncut?) praise from the UK music press that their profoundly epic prog symphonettes are either the balearic classics they’re claimed to be, or they are a) very good at sexxxing and b) willing to do said activity with every last music journalist on this noble island. This latter trial by ire is perhaps why their music sounds like someone closing their eyes and imagining they’re riding a unicorn across the golden plains of World Of Warcraft (i realise the ad above is for a date in the past. just use yr imaginaaaation…)
www.myspace.com/amountainofone

AGASKODO TELIVEREK
Taking their name from the Klingon Kama Sutra, and helmed by a guy whose nickname-of-choice is The Accountant, fun cd hardly be more guaranteed. That their new single ‘The Gay Hussar’ sounds approximately like rock’n'roll had it been invented by lifesize bluebottles, all frighteningly obsessive buzz and fearless, mindless repetition. Oh, and I lied earlier - the name actually means ‘Rearing Stallions’ in Hungarian - but I gifted you some pretty gnarrrly, hot, INDELIBLE mental images for ten seconds, right?
www.myspace.com/agaskodoteliverek

i hope to see someone there.

Posted by kicking_k on Thursday, October 11th, 2007
(1 Comment)

one of the few tiny regrets nibblng almost affectionately at my what-we’ll-call-a-heart this year was that we didn’t give more space to Don Cash back in July’s issue… when his dollar-bin playlist came in, the swagger was almost tangible. considering his latest album, Don Cash II was described by some gemlike egotist as “compounding hip hop basement shudder, the glimmer and sheen of applied science plus an array of vocal modes from spoken word to plasticised croon” thought this was the perfect chance to re-introduce him. and SO…

Plz define the essence (yes, i actually said ‘essence’) of Don Cash. What are you onstage or instudio that you’re not while off-duty, secret identity, etc? “I don’t have an alter ego. For whatever reasons I decided that it would be best to do this under the name Don Cash. Everyone calls me Don. Well, everyone except my mom and I guess I can give her a pass on that…

Most of the time my head is in the clouds, just daydreaming. I like to take long walks in downtown Toronto trying to come up with words that might sound cool together.

Onstage, sometimes I’ve got a microphone and a tambourine and I’m jumping around like a circus fool and sometimes I just hide behind the mic stand in sunglasses trying to stay as still as possible.

I don’t like it when artists try too hard onstage. It makes me uncomfortable most of the time. Really, if the song’s not selling it, you don’t have much left to sell. Plus if you’re trying to be Usher, constantly dancing around and all that, it makes it quite difficult to drink a pint while forgetting your lyrics and that sort of thing.”

Where are you from? How did that shape/inspire/injure you? What?s the best thing about there? Where are you aimed next? “I’m from Brampton, Ontario, the only one in my family that was born in Canada. The rest of the clan is from Jamaica. Brampton is a multicultural suburb of Toronto - the airport is just on the outskirts of town. The best thing about it is that there are lots of Jamaicans who live here, so if you want to feel that vibe it’s never more than a booming car stereo away. Still, I grew up with lots of different people from lots of different cultures, and I think people can hear that in the music I make.

I haven’t given a lot of thought to where I’m going next. Last year I moved to Montreal to record Don Cash II and I was a lot more home sick for Toronto than I imagined I would ever be. I realized that no matter what, you only really have one home town.”

[Clearly I shd have tailored this next question better but it was probably late and I was maybe tired] How did you first meet? What were yr first impressions of each other? The moment you knew you were *destined* to be in a band together? “I don’t have a band. I write and play and produce everything on my records at home on my $300 PC. I work fast so it saves time and money.

Still, I like working with other musicians when I get the chance - I hope one day to blow ten million pounds on some huge fiasco of a rock record just like the Stone Roses, but I suppose that’s everyone’s dream. I mean even the Queen wants to do that someday, right?

What makes you more special and unique than all the other legions of artistes and outfits queuing to be friendly on MySpace? “Well, to paraphrase the great Chevy Chase, I’m Don Cash and they’re not.”

Who are yr main ‘influences’? (Or, who have you come to DESTROY?) Which other new bands would you recommend (if any)? “My main influences are the sun, the moon, the stars and Cat Power.

The new Swizz Beats record is the real thing. I think it’s better than the new Kanye West, but I love his records as well. I just don’t think Swizzy gets enough credit so I’m doing my part.

Most new rock bores me. I like Babyshambles because he’s a brilliant poet and he made out with Kate Moss but I’m kinda getting tired of that one song he does all the time. I like that song that Oasis and the Verve do a little better, but I’m 30 so you can take it how you want it.

Oh yeah, I love anything Jack White puts his hands on.”

What d?you think of the current music scene? How will you fit in (or not)? “I don’t think much of it. So many young(er) people just seem to think that they’ll do whatever to get famous and it’ll all be worth it in the end and I just think that’s such a square attitude. A lot of time it’s not the actual songs, it’s the feeling behind the songs that makes all the difference.
Everyone’s famous now anyway, with MySpace and YouTube, so it’s like stop trying so hard, you know? Slow your roll and read something by DH Lawrence or whatever.

These days, you can come up with something as great as Liquid Swords or Abbey Road or something and get trumped by some 15 year-old who loves to videotape her farts and post them on the internet. In the future, not being famous will be where it’s at.

All the real action happening probably won’t surface for years to come. To be honest I’m shocked that my music has gotten this far in this sort of environment.

Plus, I can’t stand electro.”

What is: a) Yr three-point manifesto, b) Yr immediate plan-of-action? c) Yr long-term goal? “Now that my cover’s blown, I would like to get paid. Right now. My long-term goal is to get married and have a family and go on vacations to places I wouldn’t be caught dead in today, like DisneyWorld.”

What are yr songs mostly, y’know, ‘about’? What?s the song (so far) that says the most about you and why? “My songs are about a lot of things that are probably too complex to get into here. I mean - what is Blake’s poetry about really? It’s just my life in the end. It’s like I made a 3-D puzzle in sound and vision about my life because I could and I thought it would be cool if some Jamaican kid from Toronto did that. Maybe I just wanted to show and prove to some people that our lives were worth something too.

These sorts of pretty boy city games can get you in trouble, but I was heading for trouble anyway so I was like “fuck it, nothing stops the show.”

The song that says the most about me so far is “Put You Up On It” on Don Cash II. If you really listen to it, it says a lot about a lot of things in a way I think comes across exactly the way I am.

You have to understand, at the time of this interview, my records still aren’t distrubuted or released in Canada. This situation probably informs a lot of my attitude and subject matter. It would be great to be like my friends Metric and Kevin Drew and be able to have an audience at home, but it seems like some people don’t want that to happen…

It’s crazy, I’m all up in the NME and i-D and hanging out with James Murphy and Headman and Peaches and my records still aren’t out in Canada. No calls, no “lets hear what you’ve got,” just nothing. I was on the strip and I saw one of the heads of one of the labels here on the street. My friend was like “he got 8/10 in NME, sign him up.” Dude gave me the dirtiest look. I felt like I was back in high school or something.

They say I’m “too cocky.” I’m like, wow. It makes me so angry. Sometimes I feel like Nina Simone. All my clothes have holes…

For a while I had nothing but two crates of dollar bin records and a shopping bag full of old paperbacks. I spent years on welfare moving from one shitty room to the next - still, the whole time I was writing and recording songs, just trying to keep it together. I mean, how humble does one have to be in this world? What is humility?

I think some people are mad at me because you can’t really buy what I’ve got. Even if I wanted to sell it to them, I couldn’t.

Sorry.”

Best gig/tour/rehearsal anecdote goes here:
“Just the whole East Berlin trip I took this spring. People there were so friendly and open and I did the show and it was a great party. It was a glimpse of a future I wanted to see, and I hadn’t had a vision like that in years.

After the show in East Berlin, I was like “this motherfucker is going to work.”

Since then it’s like, so far so good…”

Posted by kicking_k on Monday, October 8th, 2007
(2 Comments)

this week, i didn’t get round to asking an indieclub, recordshop or musicblogger for a playlist, and so instead milked the swollen taste glands of Plan B comrades to help me prep you for 48 hours of (apparent) freedom outside the (symbolic) factory gates…

Holy Fuck LP (Young Turks)
Kick: Maximalist dance music as built from instrumental parts in realtime has been a bit of an obsession of mine over the last year - typified by the zombie dance party that ensues every time I play ‘Atlas’ at my club - and LP is full of adrenalized perpetual motion monsters like ‘Milkshake’, captured live, above (poor sound, i know, but the supersize combo of buff bass and melancholic chimes reigns intact.

Durrty Goodz Axiom (Awkward)
Kick: I first heard about the exhaustingly awesome ‘Axiom EP’ from yr man Ringo P Stacey, but that’s the first and last time i’m acknowledging the tip-off. I was born in the know. anyway, enough about us - press play to catch an earful of Durrty’s relentless flow - sounds like rush hour downtown…

Peggy Sue And The Pirates ‘Television’ (Thesaurus)
Everett: Gawky-sweet, playful female duo from London and Brighton sing cautionary tales of laughter and lust. And no mentioning the ‘Kate N’ words…

Pylon Gyrate Plus (DFA)
Everett: Fierce, minimalist rhythms from the turn of the Eighties: Athens Georgia quartet proves that ESG didn’t have the only claim on genius dance moves coupled with female vox in No Wave.

Turbonegro Ass Cobra (Cooking Vinyl)
Louis: Absolute cream of the forthcoming set of Turbonegro reissues, which I have listened to in the office incessantly until other staff members have discussed the possibility of removing them from the stereo by force. Best song here is ‘Hobbit Motherfuckers’. Altogether now: “My generation sucks…”

Various Artists, Box Of Dub 2 (Soul Jazz)
Louis: Second in the series of Soul Jazz’s dubstep compilations with emphasis on the dub. The real surprise here is Pinch’s ‘Step 2 It’, which features actual reggae vocals and other sweet things, and makes me anticipate his forthcoming album Underwater Dancehall with much excitement.

The Slits Return Of The Giant Slits (Blast First Petite)
Everett: You know how good the Slits’ debut album Cut is, already - right? Punk meets dub meets mischief meets teen female magnetism in sensory overload (it was the album that made ET want to move to London: all those shouts and squeals and gales of laughter). This, their second, is even better, promise: where The Slits fully realised their bass-heavy vision - maturity isn’t always a dirty word.

Blind Alphabetz Luvvolution (Silent Soundz)
Ringo: Blind Alphabetz are equal parts PE and Gangstarr, rage and relaxed consciousness combining in a true liberation theology for the masses. Love in the key of revolution. Or, in PR speak: conscious, self-conscious Islamic agit-rap from Silent Soundz, the Southampton label who brought you this years sizzling ‘Thinking Out Loud’ EP by First Man Productions.

Pyrelli A Twist of Fate (Judgement Ent/All City)
Ringo: Two years and two mixtapes on from his ‘Organ G’ side project with Dat G Gav it’s criminal how Pyrelli is still best known as Sway’s sideman. The label aren’t sending out full copies so we’ll have to make do with a sampler of 11 tracks (from 14) to bide over till the November 26th release. First impressions are the addictively meandering downright-most-natural articulate melodic flow in London is in rude health. And the beats ain’t bad either. I’m counting the days.

Posted by kicking_k on Friday, October 5th, 2007
(2 Comments)

sparkling noisily amongst the latest crop of Big Dada recruits, Canadian tonguesmith Cadence Weapon finally anoints yr cranium with the excellent, elephantine bleeps of his Breaking Keyfabe record this month - by way of intro, spot all the video game homages in the ‘Sharks’ video and give yrself a virtual huggle.

Those Dancing Days are starting to wade into the public consciousness, but we told you about them back in may. click above to witness their performance of must-be-future-hit ‘Hitten’ (yes, that’s what the title means, too) on a Swedish TV show. ‘raw pop’ is still my best summation of thier appeal - hopefully fame won’t transmogrify them into nightmarish hipster ogresses.

keeping it NICE, Nathan Fake is here for anyone who misses the (future) countryside, and this tweemendous video for new single ‘You Are Here’ is recommended for defrizzing yr unconscious during tea breaks and the like.

moving sideways, ‘And She Looked At The Swan’ is a more reflective (but troubled) moment from Liverpool’s anarcho-something-or-other experimental tendency aPAtT - elsewhere, you can see their self-made documentary, their bizarro-cartoon and ‘dVD’.

lastly, Plan B’s own hairy sweethearts Les Savy Fav have asked their fans to make their next video (for ‘The Equestrian’) and the results range from Bunny’s positively demonic (all senses intended) kindergarten riot (above) to horsies in the countryside, a man and his ‘midget sex doll’ and eerie masks. what have we unleashed..?

Posted by kicking_k on Wednesday, October 3rd, 2007
(1 Comment)