Digging for records in the digital age

I'll be the first to admit, I can't even decide if this is cool or diabolical...but here goes...

Was chatting with Brooksy about a way I've been nabbing sick singles lately when I find they're outrageously expensive. Conducted a little experiment tonight and wanted to share with you all a little something I call "The YouTube DJ Set".

So, as you may already know, lots of folks post all kind of sick tunes on YouTube and you can actually find/discover a lot of music on what is otherwise known as a video site. But the beauty is, you can get those tracks pretty easily. There are probably a million ways to do it, but here's my method:

1. Take the URL from a track you love and enter it at keepvid.com. Hit return and then download the HIGH QUALITY vid.

2. Open that vid in Quicktime Pro or something comparable

3. Export the audio as a high quality AIFF

4. Open in iTunes (or comparable) and then convert to MP3

Now, because the audio will at that point be a couple generations old, it will inevitably be a hair quiet compared to what you heard on YouTube. But if you plug a string of tunes in GarageBand (or comparable) you can quickly assemble your set of tracks and then boost up the level and get those suckers back to the same quality you heard in the first place.

As I said, I conducted a test tonight. It started with Paul's Northern Soul 001 set he posted the other day. I love that track "You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies" by Dana Valery, but the single goes for mucho $$$. This is a short mix (again, an experiment; starting with Dana), and I am by no means claiming any DJ cred, but I did this whole thing using the method above. And while it may seem complicated, I did the whole thing in 30-45 minutes, from sniffing out the tracks off the original search (I wasn't specifically searching for the rest of the tracks, I found them "dig-ing"), to downloading and converting, to assembling and exporting.

Again, probably makes me a lazy fuck...but at the end of the day, these singles on 7" would have broken the bank. And right now, I'm rocking them. So, not the be all end all, but good when you're in a pinch. Hope you enjoy. Let me know your thoughts on all of it.

You Don't Know Where Your Interest Lies - Dana Valery

I Need You - Shane Martin

Shy Guy - The Uptights

They Say - The Ovations

Help Me (Get Myself Back Together) - The Spellbinders

Soul Boy

Soul Boy is a forthcoming Northern Soul flick set in the days of The Wigan Casino. To be honest looks a bit cack...cringey dialogue, dodgy syrups, badly integrated archive and line dancing (WTF!!) Shame the scene deserves much better.

See it for yourself here: Soul Boy Trailer.

Yelawolf - Pop The Trunk

I like the feel of this vid....

Yelawolf - Pop The Trunk from Motion Family on Vimeo.

White Lightnin'

A film that due it's subject matter (based on the story of mountain dancer Jesco White) and brutal nature disappeared under the radar as soon as it came out...great shame as it's such a great tale of madness, drug taking, religion, and murder - interspersed by great music and dancing - who could want more. Now on dvd.

White Lightnin' trailer
Uploaded by blankytwo. - Full seasons and entire episodes online.

Also worth checking out is Jesco's Myspace.

Wayne Smith - Time Is A Moment In Space

Been blazing this one alot from the excellent 'Crowning Of Prince Jammy' lp - Forget Sleng Teng, personally I think this is Wayne Smith's greatest moment. Vocal and Dub Sublime.



To see the great man in action (Jammy) - Check this clip from the skill documentary 'Deep Roots Music' - Pure Vibes, Pure Class.

Black Rhino Hoodies

Not sure if you got the 'hoodie' phenomenon in the states but since 2005 in the UK, the mere sight of a hooded teenager is enough to make some people run for cover.



Just clocked these fetching garments which no self respecting hoodie should be seen without. Get yours here.

ESG UFO

UFO by the Scroggins Sisters, Classic nuff said.

Nigel Palmer, Nine Tattoo

With today being the last day of the Brighton Tattoo convention - just wanted to big up one of my favorite artists from the area - Nigel Palmer from Nine Tattoo. Fast becoming one of the most sought after tattooists in the UK, looking at his unique style it's not hard to see why.

Slumgang

Super hungover so I'll to this later. Slumgang are one of my all time favorite bands. We played with them in the 90's and they slayed everytime, even after we had been drinking cider all day. Eddie send me the demo recently which I will post up. Here's the A side of their 7". Epic.

True Love And Pierced Herats

Our mate Paul is blogging... new Northern Sould mix is up - legit.

Link

SF beware

Apparently there's a knife-wielding maniac running around dressed (well, half-dressed) like the Unabomber.

Natural Child

Impossible to follow a MArked Men post....buuuut, following from the Jeff the Brotherhood post the other week, here's another band on the same label Infinity Cat. Natural Child. &" is fucking killer - in case you can't hear... the chorus is 'I just wanna do crack with my friends'. ,....goood shit.

MARKED f-ing MEN

Following the CHAOS in TEJAS announcement, I've been really geared up to see the Marked Men again live. Sat up most of last night listening through their whole catalog and debating internally as to what's my fave track. And picking one is sort of liking choosing between BJs and full-on sex. Both are awesome for completely different reasons.

Anyway, my fave might still be "Destroy Them" which for some reason I can't get to post up here. But here are a handful front-runners from my end. What would you add?

Can't fucking wait for May!

(It's Not a Crime)

(Blow My Head)

(Fix My Brain)

(Fortune)

(Gone Away)

Burnt Cross

Along with the Beginning Of The End, Ralf also sent me the new Burnt Cross album. Sounding distinctly like CRASS...or even CRESS, I love the hard drum machine with anarcho vocals.....

Beginning Of The End

The UK is on fire right now with killer hardcore bands. Ralf from Opiate records sent me the new LP by Beginning Of The End. Really heavy metallic dbeat with shredding female vocals. Feeling this one. Try and track one down at Active Rebellion.

The Mob

The weather is rainy and shitty here - time to dig out some old anarcho punk.... the Mob were always one of my fave bands - they had a dark gothic take on the anarcho punk sound. Shit still sounds good....

Rapid from Ruff Sqwad - GO!

Top tune. Nice vid....feeeelin it...

Vaaska

Logan plays bass. From Texas, sing in Spanish. The LP is off the hook....

Chaos In Tejas 2010

Women In Uniform

I always thought this track was an Iron Maiden orig, turns out it was the Skyhooks. Who knew? Skyhooks were an Australian Glam band from the early-mid 70's. I just scored 3 of their LPs. Pretty fruity for sure, but there some top shelf bangers buried in there!!!

SF Stand Up....Salute!!!

Last night we went to a MRR run show with Shannon and The Clams, Airfix Kits, Vacuum and acephalix. It was so inspiring to watch 4 bands of totally different styles blow my mind. SF is on fire right now!!!!

Blues Creation

More fucked up Japrock... Blues Creation started out doing heavy versions of blues covers. Their later albums were all original stuff by founder/guitarist/singer Kazuo Takeda. After 4 albums the band changed their name to Creation. I dig it, heavy with weirdo fucked up vocals... dig in.

Skiplickers

I love UK punk and hardcore. My faves from the 90's were extreme bands like Suffer and Health Hazard. It's hard to keep in touch with shit but there's some fierce stuff coming out of there these days. Current faves: Skiplickers who sound like Anti Cimex on speed.... arrrggghhhhhhh.

Krallice

Been feeling the US Black Metal these days - like Nachtmystium etc. For a while there I was all about the source.... Norway!, but I like how people have taken the form and started doing their own steeze. Krallice from NYC are HEAVY.

Send this to everyone you know

You couldn't dream this up. And though nothing should be surprising at this point, I'm pretty much speechless and want everyone I know, and everyone they know, to see this.

(sorry for the politics here, but if it helps, think of it less as politics and more as anti-christian and pro-metal)

Ty Segall

Saw him last week and it was raaaaaad. We are playing with him in Texas which should be totally epic!!!!

Youth Of Today Europe 1989

I saw Youth Of Today in 1989. I liked 'em, but they were were a bit squeaky clean for me. This video of them on that tour shows that they were ripping...

Martin

Mike has got a new line coming this fall....stoked!

Sir Douglas Quintet - Mendocino

The missus sent me this cos I love Mendocino. I wonder if they're singing about the place or the weeeeeed maaaan. Rad tune.

Chaos In Tejas

Timmy announced the line up for this years fest - as always, fucking mind blowing.:

Chaos in Tejas 2010 (May 27-30) - intial lineup (Rorschach, Bastard reunion, Spits, Bone Awl, Ty Segall, much more)
by BBG (I stole the below from Brooklyn Vegan)



Last year's jaw-dropping lineup at Chaos In Tejas was sick, and 2010 is proving to be no different. For four days across four different Austin venues, May 27th to the 30th at Emo's, Mohawk, Red 7 and Beerland, the festival will offer some of the most impressive names in the independent/underground scene including the indestructible Rorschach, the first ever US appearance from Australian punk greats X, a one-time reunion of Japanese crust-core band Bastard, the quirky cutesy indie pop-punk of Grass Widow, Gehenna (who just played A389), Subhumans, Bastard Noise (who have a new record), Bone Awl,Jeff The Brotherhood, The Spits, Psychedelic Horseshit, Ty Segall, The Ponys, Iron Lung, Poison Idea, Inquisition, and many many many others.

In addition to the obvious mayhem that will ensue over the four days, Chaos in Tejas will also showcase art from some of the scene's most interesting names including Tim Kerr (of Big Boys), Winston Smith (responsible for tons of collage work, including the Dead Kennedys best album art), and Bryan Ray Turcotte (best known for his book Fucked Up and Photocopied).

The full (and intimidating) list is below...

CHAOS IN TEJAS
MAY 27 - 30, 2010
EMO's, MOHAWK, RED 7, and BEERLAND
AUSTIN, TX
initial lineup:
Acephalix
A-Frames
Arctic Flowers
Axeman
Bastard (Japan..one time reunion)
Bastard Noise (Wood, Connell and Nelson)
Bone Awl
Brilliant Colors
Crow (Japan)
Dead to Me
Deskonocidos
Fungi Girls
Gehenna
Grass Widow
the Hex Dispensers
Inquisition (columbia)
Iron Age
Iron Lung
Jeff the Brotherhood
Kim Phuc
Kyklooppein Sukupuutto (Finland)
La Urss (Spain)
Leatherface (England)
Mammoth Grinder
Masshysteri
The Marked Men (only show of 2010)
Mind Eraser
Morne
Mother of Mercy
Nerveskade
Ninja Gun
The Pist
Poison Idea
the Ponys
Psychedelic Horseshit
Rival Mob
Rorschach
Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Ratas Del Vaticano (Mexico)
Shanghai River
the Spits
Slang (Japan)
Subhumans (England)
Tim Kerr and Friends
Toxic Holocaust
Ty Segall
Underground Railroad to Candyland
Vaaska
Volahn
Walls
Wasted Time
Waste Management
Wild Thing
World Burns to Death
Woven Bones
X (Australia)
Yellow Tears
Young Offenders

Pisces

Went record shopping with Dougie and bought this oddity by Pisces. Never heard of them, but I couldn't resist the record cover - the band dressed in their best garb and one joker turns up in a frogman's outfit. Class. The sound? so fuckin good - you would'nt know this slice of shimmery psych pop was from the 60's. If you heard it now buried between Cat Power, and some of Wil Oldam's stuff or even some of the shit like Thee Oh sees. Pretty wonderful suff. Also bought a soul record from the same label that was pretty epic too. Check more here

Philo

I had a great Christmas, and when walking around Dublin this video always comes to mind.

JEFF the brotherhood

I am terrible at taking advice. Especially about music.... I think I'm open minded - yet folks tell me I'll love shit then I ignore them, only to be blown away months later. This time I wasn't too late. Dougie couldn't stop talking about JEFF the brotherhood... blah blah blah. I was over his house last night. We were headbanging in his kitchen. Fucking powerpop Hawkwind. Garage stoner rock. Beach boys Black Sabbath.Mind. Blown.
SF heads. They play the Eagle on April 1st. See you at the front.

Sedition

One of my favorite bands from the 90's was Sediton from Scotland - they were caustic, fast and had this tribal bent that set them apart from everyone else. They hardly played (I was lucky enough to see them in Leicester of all places), but when they did were jawdropping. They release a bunch of records, all of which are hard to get, although I'm sure the CD on Flat Earth is still available. They reformed for a couple of memorial gigs in 2009, and as you can see still have it....doing the classic Irish tune 'Ride On'





and here's Christy Moore doing Ride On... different? yes. But just as good.

Hawklords

... after 25 odd years I finally picked up a copy of the lone Hawklords LP and it was way better than the cover! Hawklords is essentially Hawkwind during their spilt in '79 without all the Moorcock spaceage shit. It sounds like some of the more straight ahead Hawkwind stuff and even dips into some New Wavey sounds. The band did one huge tour and this LP then Rob Calvert went mad, the band split and Hawkwind got back together. This LP is well worth tracking down for Hawkwind fans.



Hawklords

Jay Reatard RIP

Seriously??? This a joke??? Hope so. Saw it coming though... dude was on a mission.

http://www.goner-records.com/board/

Yabby You RIP

What the fuck? This turning into a fuckin obit blog? seriously. Big fan of Yabby You...both as a vocalist and producer... he produced some of the finest dub and heavy roots out there. Who is coming through to replace the likes of Yabby You, King Tubby, Coxsone etc????





v

Joe Graziano RIP

Joe Graziano bassist for NYC hardcore band Supertouch died of an apparent suicide this weekend. Folks is dropping like flies. RIP. I wonder what happened to my Supertouch longsleeve?

Budd Dwyer

I got a link to the FreshJive homepage a few days ago from a friend of mine, and have since been stumbling on a lot of stuff (mostly video) related to the 1987 on-air suicide of Pennsylvania politician Budd Dwyer. Why would a clothing company post this on their website? Well aside from the founder being labeled by his fans as "one of the...most original in streetwear, never sacrificing his creativity in fear of what his fans or buyers might say" (really? is this creativity?), it seems to stem from the company's decision to remove brand labels/logos from even its own clothing, a move many see as equivalent to suicide. Or maybe as Dwyer has proven, and perhaps FreshJive is banking on, it's a step toward infamy.

Anyway, I remember when this happened when I was a kid (didn't see it live, but heard about it from news...WARNING it's extremely graphic). So I got to investigating and it seems Budd's rightful place in American history is pretty contentious. Wikipedia and many other sources have him as a corrupt politician who was saving himself from prison while also securing state-sponsored life insurance (in the neighborhood of $1.3 million) for his family. But there are just as many sites who have him pegged as a martyr-hero of sorts, who sacrificed himself to make the ultimate statement about backwards government and the twisted American judicial system.

Regardless, it is without a doubt simultaneously one of the bravest and stupidist and most narcissistic and insanely sensationalist (the last two are probably most fitting for FreshJive) f*cked up things ever. I mean, he called a press conference for this!!! Talk about the ultimate f*ck you.

Again, prepare yourself if you're going to watch this.

Blaggers ITA

What do you get if you cross a bunch of ex-skins, ravers, smack heads and fervent anti-fascists??? Blaggers TA. Starting out in the late the late 80's as an Oi band - they morphed into something completely original. Like Sham 69 with samples, horns and rapping. Sounds shit? Nah... fucking brilliant. One of the best band's I ever saw live. Totally uncompromising in attitude and politics they were always on the front line. They released a bunch of records on DIY label Words Of Warning before signing to EMI much to the chagrin of the underground scene. The band's stance was to get their message out to wider audience and stick it to the man while doing it. Case in point the Ramraiders ITA 7" they released using EMI's money. The band disintergrated in the late 90's followed by the death of singer Matty Blag last year from a heroin overdose. The band have started playing occasionally and their seminal LP 'United Colours Of Ballgers ITA" is being reissued..... RIP Matty Blag.






New Kids On The Blag

Bag Of Hammers

Yesterday I picked up a couple of 7"s from the 90's by a band called the dummies... awesome blown out garage. They did a 7" on the great label 'Bag Of Hammers'. While trying to find shit for you lot to peep I remembered the new record by Thao Nguyen is called 'Bag Of Hammers'. Out on Kill Rock Stars it's pretty cutsie....but I dig. It's nothing like the Dummies BTW.

Can I Sit Next To You Girl?

ACDC are my favourite band.... my son's too. We sat through the whole DVD boxset together the other day... that's family bonding. Here at the B&M HQ we are on a glam tip....ACDC pre Bon Scott??? yep.



but nothing can beat the real deal...

American Movies

Not a music-related thing, but a really cool glimpse at pop culture in America. NY Times took Netflix rental data in top cities (and their 'burbs) across the country and created interactive maps showing the most- and least-rented movies by zip code.

It's amazing how hard and fast the delineations are between neighborhoods, many of which are separated by race and socioeconomic differences. Probably not a surprise, but when you see it in blocks of color like this it's strangely concrete (for instance, compare the data for Tyler Perry's "The Family that Preys" from a city like D.C. or Atlanta with that of Seattle; or even within the NYC map compare Manhattan to East Brooklyn). Anyway, I found this interactive feature really interesting to play around with. Thought you might too.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/01/10/nyregion/20100110-netflix-map.html?hp

Home Is Where The Floor Is

X are coming to the US.
No. Not John Doe and Exene's LA X. I mean the 'real' X. From Australia. One of the most underrated punk bands of all time. They are playing Timmy's Chaos In Tejas. We will be there. More info as the time approaches (May). Be prepared though.

For you cross-the-ponders

Lee Brasco - Tour Of Bow

I know I've been hitting the Grime pretty hard...but this track is an absolute fave for a number of reasons. The track is L Wiz "Girl From Codiene City" which is one of my absolute favorite Dubstep tunes...so it takes it away from the choppy Grime sounds. Secondly, me and the missus used to live in E3 (East London... Mile End/Bethnal Green/Bow). Here's a pic of the council flats we lived in.
So Brasco's tour is our old hood. We used to shop down the Roman Road! Bow is pretty roughneck and we avoided it , apart from the night the missus fell asleep on the bus and woke up in Bow. This tune reminds me of times.... dig in it's hot. This comes from a great new mix called "No Hats, No Hoods Vol 1"

Diplo, Santa Gold & Cutty Ranks Vs Black Flag

I love it when homies come through and turn you on to good vibes. XsweatsX came by last night and played me the Diplo mix with this on it. Love it.

Vic Chesnutt RIP

A little late here - southern troubadour Vic Chesnutt committed suicide on Xmas Day (his 5th attempt....jesus). His 19 (!) albums of dark country folk are well worth digging into... the guy became paraplegic in '83 at 18 after a drink driving accident..and the demons that followed created some pretty epic music...both with and without backing bands. He will be missed.

Griminal & Lil Nasty

more new Grime from my old hood......

Breakage feat. Newham Generals

Breakage was banging up the D&B scene for time...he's moving into the Dubstep/Grime world. Feeling this track for sure...

Graphity

Lee Moses

Thanks to fellow B&M scribe Lighten Jeff for linking me to this gem. Turns out the OG of this soul monster changes hands for a pretty penny. Reissue on CD is no good to me... I need the wax maaaaan. This track is scorching though right? The hunt is on!

v

get the cd reish here

Arfur Daley

Talking with my mate Sean reminded me how good Minder was - this related song by the Firm is pretty good too!!

Mutiny Bikes Trailer

Mutiny Bikes "Let's Get Mystical" Trailer! from Mutiny Bikes on Vimeo.

DAM

Palestinian political hip hop? don't mind if I do! Thanks for the heads up Peter...

Ya Boy

Always like to rep the Bay. More new hip hop from the Filmore projects.....

Musical Murderation

Powered by Podbean.com

our pals over ate One Sound have thrown down their latest mix. This time a killer trip through digital reggae. Good shit as always. Peep their site for tracklisting and plenty of other top rubs....

37 Chambers

XsweatsX hooked me up with this one - El Michel's Affair re-rub of the classic 1st Wu Tang LP.... it's a mellow affair, but has a ton of depth....feeeeeling it

Reinkaos

Wake up is to start suffering
Alone in the Dark
It's difficult to speak with pain

Only the reflection of the blade
It's impossible to live with pain
Irresistible desire

The blood runs in my arms

The blade rips deeper
Don't talk to me
Blood everywhere
Don't listen to what I say
Drowning me in my delirium
Where death carries me




Happy New Year