way back in early december, i had the unmitigated pleasure of hanging out in those (frankly spooky) disused railway arches which run from Bermondsey Street to right under London Bridge Station. now with my reputation, you might find it hard to believe this was anything other than run of the mill ramping up to the weekend type vibe. but non monsieur, the other lady ms b was shooting a video for the new acoustic ladyland single, cuts and lies, which is the first track to be released from the critically lauded new album, skinny grin and features the magnificently sassy vocal stylings of miss coco electrik herself.
so i spent four hours listening to playback of the same song - albeit cut into scene sized snippets, which might be enough to to put you off something for life (even with my intravenous replay habit) but i left the shoot near bedtime still singing and loving the infectuous saxophone and piano hook and air drumming to the pummelling breakdown at two minutes thirty. damn there it was still looping when i got up the next morning. and again on sunday.

scenes with the whole band and not just the stunningly hitchcockian looking anne, were a complete blast to behold, not least because my cynical mtv reared self had assumed that most everyone mimes through playbacks (maybe i’m basing my knowledge on that robert palmer video, huh?) but the 10 strong crew and associated hangers on (whoo, that was me!) were treated to live jams, not just as the phenomenal fourpiece that is acoustic ladyland but solo bits from sickeningly great saxophonist pete wareham and legendary, tonsorial explosivo, seb rochford, the comedically and keyboardly gifted Tom Cawley and the hirsuite and mighty funky bassist Tom Herbert.

Now wrapped and cut and ready for an early march release, here is the finished product, courtesy of myspace’s filmy thing… Cuts & Lies

get your skinny grin on here

acoustic ladyland feat anne booty - cuts and lies

Was trying to take a day out from life yesterday, but somehow got sucked into having an ‘organize or die’ day instead. Sometimes it just feels I have all this really unnecessary stuff just clogging up my life. All these clothes I never get round too wearing, old computers under my bed that I can’t quite bring myself to chuck and just piles and piles of music that I can’t even get too let alone get into.

I remember living with this dude once who just had too many records. He was famed (sort of) in town for having the heaviest collection, and his room was floor to ceiling killer music. Loads of original Impulse, all these amazing Japanese Blue Note re-issues, that whole 70’s soul/funk thing just everything.

Problem was he just ran out of space. It got to the point that he couldn’t even get too whole sections of his collection cause the way was blocked by more and more vinyl. He could never find anything, let alone listen to it. In the end it became like a weight round his neck, literally blocking the light into his room. A bloke from Reckless came up and bought the lot for 10 grand (probably less than a pound a record)-but he was free, well free to start buying again as it turned out.

Bottom line-you can always have too much stuff.

My clearout was thankfully far less extreme, but I still managed to get a little hit of that ‘losing stuff-gaining headspace feeling’ and as a bonus I found some amazing music that had been hidden at the back of the crates for y’all to enjoy.

First up a killer form curtis mayfield’s last album ‘new world order’, it’s a bit of a diamond in the rough, as lot of the rest of the album is pretty lightweight-but this is just beautiful. A fitting way to remember an incredible artist.

Curtis Mayfield-Here but I’m Gone

if you’ve been reading your guardian recently you’ll know that bonnie ‘prince’ billy is currently touring the uk - and us horse latitudes’ll be at the Queen Elizabeth Hall to witness him in his gleaming-pated, banjo-strumming, moustachio’d glory on saturday night.
those of you who’ve been with us from the beginning, or just plundering our archives, will know that our first ever post was an oldhamfest so it’s nice to come on back around (as jamie lidell would say) to a man who’s output is worthy of consistant praise and regular attention. and though a fleeting cameo in junebug is his only filmic foray i’ve caught so far, word is the soon to be released and already award winning, old joy and guatemalen handshake are further evidence that the man of many names has equally many talents too.

check this advert for his recently released ‘the letting go’ lp, featuring tony clifton-esque comedian du jour and frequently bottled-off tenacious d opening act, neil hamburger and the delightful mobile karaoke of will oldham…

i urge you to head on over to drag city and catch more ads for ‘the letting go’, as well a selection of his promos with an enviable roster of directorial talent.

not often being ones to go with the grain, rather than furnish you with a bonnie ‘prince’ billy, or will oldham or palace brothers, or bonnie billy track today, my indulgent contribution to something for the weekend (which in this case should be called something for ‘our’ weekend) is an iron & wine cover of we all us three will ride from the excellent oldham tribute album, i am a cold rock, i am dull grass (also featuring hl crush and palace co-conspiritor, pink nasty).

Oh, and incidentally that long promised iron and wine post is still in the pipeline as i’ve developed a habit of posting on them without giving due care and attention to the genius of sam beam. and erm, in a shameless idolator-esque call to arms, should any of you out there have the pre-calexico demos of what became the ‘in the reins’ ep do get in touch and we’ll do something nice for you in return…

iron & wine - we all us three will ride

Had a great time away from the city with the lads last weekend. Cold winter sun, uninterupted quiet and loads of inspiring times.

The one thing I really missed was ‘big city cuisine’. I’m aware that just by saying that outloud I have crossed some unspoken line and am bound to live the rest of my life within the domain of metrosexual-dom, but man the food was dark.

It’s easy to forget how good we have it these days, m&s chorizo and chickpea soups, EAT bircher museli breakers, taste the difference sausage, smoothies, monmouth coffee, LEON wraps.CANTEEN bacon sandwhiches-man we take our food (and health) seriously these days-and it’s all good.

Even a few years ago the thought of pub grub was enough to make you opt for a liquid lunch and the only choice on the motorways was the evil that is ‘little chef’ (more robots!!). Obviously it’s a slipperly slope to horrenduos, poncey food snobbery (too late for me I’m afraid) but if it means we take more care of what we consume and don’t become caught up in needless gluttony, then let’s just enjoy the little things that make us happy.

Esther Williams-It Feels Real Good

so if i quit ragging on se8 for a while and look out of my window, turns out it can look quite magical…

but then so can anywhere in the snow, i guess.

yessurp, we wannabe cockneys and layabout sloanes woke this morning to snow in the big smoke and i doubt theres one amongst us who didn’t have a childish urge to grab a tea-tray and go scooting down primrose hill.

but bus and tube rides (and the nagging thought of a credit card bill) later and i’m here at daytime hq trying to suppress the urge to call for a “team building” snowball fight in regents park.

luckily, k over the sea at analog giant posted a tune which warmed me from the insides.

new for oh-seven from the consistantly delightful ubiquity stable this joint, redollent of my personal favourite chopper up-er of beats and samples, a man called horse, and equally the suave (though way more dubious) serge gainsbourg comes ’song for david’ from shawn lee’s ping pong orchestra’s third album, ’strings and things’.

enjoy it, from its stormy opening to pinging crashy cymbals and reverby steel stringness right through the western landscape of near greensleevey harmonica and psych-y bass to the jazzy piano and spaced out strings, just like i did.
shawn lee’s ping pong orchestra - song for david

If I could sum-up the definitive ‘third floor classic’ sound, in two words, those words would be ‘jazzy breaks’. Of course there was a broad spectrum of styles that rocked our world back then, but it was that house tempo/ break driven sound that we really made our own.

The excellent ‘Another night on Earth‘ posted ‘Blacker‘ by the (Eccentric Afros vs) Ballistic Brothers, earlier this week, which is a good example of the style I’m talking about. (might have to put the marden hill version up here later in the series). It’s got that soulful, break influenced sound of hiphop but it’s tweaked upbeat for extra dancefloor pressure.
This track is a tune called ‘Le Voyage’ by Mighty Bop-it’s from the second of their eps (the green one) and was recommended by pete and simon , when they worked in the basement of the mighty ‘rockin sarah’ in soho and were primary taste makers for my nascient record collecting.

It’s quite a simple tune really-spacey keys, a jazzy vocal sample, nice breakdowns, all underpinned with this enormous drum break (and lets face it that’s key ingredient). It’s one of those records that sort of defies easy labeling and maybe that’s why we love it so much-it just sounds golden.

Mighty Bop-Le Voyage

i should apologise, this year’s been a bit all over the place for me so far, and as such my usual keyboard meanderings about the music that’s gotten me all fired up over the past twenty four hours have been replaced with whinging by-lines about having no where to live.

well that stops here and actually it wasn’t all bad anyway (please say it wasn’t all bad…) as it led me back home (ok, ok this is a terrible pun, even i admit it) because the lovely adam from hometapes braved the latitudes and furnished me (and we all know that then means you, dear reader) with a pre-mixed and unmastered recording from paul duncan’s new album.

we here at hl love hometapes because of what they do and how they do it, like this…

“ Hometapes makes official the little things in life that define us. We’ve been making things since we were kids, together even then, from every moment we collect. Product architects. Happy just to leave behind something you’ll remember. Hearing and making music, taking pictures, writing something down, designing a page or a package, watching through windows, driving, walking, talking: these are the modest pillars of Hometapes. We engineer products that represent us, our friends/collaborators, and creative everyday life. Sometimes they exceed our expectations and we surely hope they excite yours. Hometapes = music, art, and everything else.“

you can’t not love them after reading that can you?
anyhoo, back to the matter in hand. if you hit up the hometapes (or even paul’s own) site the new paul duncan album’s got no name but is slated to hit the shelves (or servers now i suppose) some time in march.

well, the album’s actually called ‘Above the Trees’ and right here is a chunk of soaring loveliness, which according to Adam Hometapes “sounds incredible” in its finally mixed and mastered version.

i’ve been looping it on repeat/repeat/repeat (always a great sign of greatness) and there’s a new levity to paul duncan’s voice on this track (compared to the occasional growl which rumbled over ‘Be careful…’) which will doubtless draw lazy comparisons to bonnie prince billy and (smog)’s bill callahan when the album is released. and once more his lyrics are balanced, considered and apposite… “my love i’m excited - because we will get older” weighs in to the seasoned mood of ‘red eagle’ with the acoustic guitars strings lapping over a quiet snare, while a calming steel guitar winds its way around the vocal and strings like wood smoke from a cabin in the woods.

so keep the hometape fires burning by checking in on them regularly and see where they’re at and be excited by gorgeous music made by lovely people.

paul duncan - red eagle (pre mastered)

having agreed to steer clear of posting about josh tillman for the month of january i don’t think i’m breaking any rules by posting another damien jurado track am i?

pah, well screw you because here is it.

if you check the band’s myspace blog you’ll already know this but…

“a new song has been posted on the page called “ferocious chorus”. the song was written and recorded for the “on my way to absence” album but was never used. so here for the first time is the out take with scratch vocals and all. this song will be up for one week only and replaced by another rare track.. i will most likely continue doing this for a while so check back often.”

as these rare tracks aren’t downloadable just listenable (and not that there’s anything wrong with that) to i figured you might want to hear the demo version of ferocious chorus (when it was called ‘black boys’) and keep it all for yourself…

this is a song i’ve loved long and well.

its appeared on mixtapes and playlists galore because there’s just something about the lyrics which send my whistful mind to places its nice to be in.

pictures of balmy summer nights with the french doors flung open, tinny stereos and the pre-itunes thrill of piles of records stacked up ready to play so we can dance round the garden, drinking vodka tonic in our barefeet….
damien jurado - ferocious chorus (demo)

In a few years Elephant & Castle will probably be like Angel. Billions of pounds of regeneration money to create a chi-chi make-over for the most stubbornly ‘earthy’ parts of zone 1.
It’s therefore quite possible that future generations will have no idea about the significance of Roots Manuva giving his record the moniker ‘Walworth Rd Dub’. The character of the place will be lost behind a facade of alfresco dining and all makeover money can buy.

It’s not all bad-god knows the place could do with a lick of paint (and a demolition or ten)-but for now lets love the place for what it is; a multicultural mixing pot, a hundred different nationalities all doing their own thing, hustling and bustling trying to make an honest (or otherwise) living on the unforgiving streets.

It’s one of those tracks that is an anthem for rudebwoys and city bankers alike-anyone who wants to lay their claim to a piece of authentic south london attitude. It’s almost too big a tune to play, so I’ve added an extra layer of classic to give it that basilika style edge.

walworthbelieve-roots manuva/biggie(jaksoul edit)

so here’s a little something i wrote yesterday, just, you know, to prove that yep, cliches have a foundation in truth. and yep jk and i are both obsessed with our hair.
The weather in London today is textbook squally.

Blustery winds which whip construction materials around building sites and crack flags with ominous violence against their bending poles.

Its also messing with my hair.

And as i sit in the relative calm of a riverfront cafe behind etched glass crading an oversweet paper cup of cinnamon scented chai tea the brightest blue sky cracks over Lambeth Palace and its like central London’s beneath the blanket spell of a storm obsessed witch.

The calm in the distance is at such odds with the city detritus being flung about in my near distance, people braced against the winds and gulls tossed about over the Thames and gusts so strong that they catch my trailing leg as I trot along the street and nearly spin me off balance and i realise that theres nothing like bright skies in the distance while you’re slap bang in the middle of a maelstrom to highlight the terrible contrasts of light and shade.

another weather themed track.

mr rock, if you’d oblige…