I`m standing there, watching this guy cue up the next record. Looking at his amazing tattoos. A skull covers the whole of his left hand. I`m thinking that would be an excellent shot. His left hand back-cueing. Maybe I could use it for a flyer. Obviously I don`t get it.

Japan is a place full of contrasts, but the one you immediately notice is how the old and the new co-exist. You get a street of huge westernized hotels (anything westernized is always huge – from the fifty-third floor to the totally unnecessary four-wheel drives that are too wide for the Tokyo streets) and somewhere in the middle is a run down wooden shack – that`s just about survived countless earthquakes – selling home-made tofu and nato. You`ve got the salaryman cliché – never sees his family – but everyone takes the time to visit a shrine or temple (jinja). Takes time out for tradition.

The guy cueing the record is Zecky, from the Discossession crew. A group of extremely skilled DJs and complete music obsessives (that`s one thing I like about Japan – here I`m normal – well, at least in terms of record buying), initially brought together by a love of Italo disco. The group also includes Chee Shimizu and Dr. Nishimura, and I`ve heard stories of amazing record collections – hundreds of original pressings tracked down, acquired, assimilated and then purged as they move on. They`ve done Italo and thoroughly mined Baldelli`s Cosmic tapes. The next step is original production work forthcoming on the Crue-L label. We were very lucky to be invited to a Discosession party (we were the only gaijin there). Very small. Very underground. Thank you Jonny. And the thing that intrigued me about Zecky was the contrasts. The guy has played guitar in various hardcore punk bands for over ten years, yet when he comes to DJ he drops the sweetest mid-tempo, jazz-inflected Italo/Euro disco imaginable. Jonny calls it “Zecky working his sleazy magic”. I guess in some ways it is classic “morning” music. Mike Francis, William Pitt, Tony Esposito. I said “You`re not cosmic mate. You`re Balearic.”

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you know that thing about the sum of something’s parts? well, getting a justice remix of a daft punk track is a bit like that, a sort of gallic dance implosion so large it’s almost too much to listen to. though only almost.

but if you couple that with this teaser for daft punk’s electroma (even if the logo has poached our dear friends coco electrik’s branding almost hook line and sinker)

and i find myself researching the price of ateliers in the 14^e arrondissement and then planning to head out of town for the whole of august. obvious comparisons to gallo’s brown bunny (right down to jackson c. frank on soundtrack) have followed screenings of the movie which, not only looks stunning, as you can see, but appears to contain elements of both the icarus myth and casting out from eden.

but with robots. obviously.

back here on dry (human) land though via Brooklyn Vegan some time ago (sorry, i’ll find my own content eventually) justice take on daft punk’s human afterall taking french existentialism to new levels. satre would be so proud.

daft punk- human after all (justice remix)

Everyone seems to be freaking out about about the new London 2012 logo. (The Guardian’s got a typical emotive article here) If the length of the comments section is any sort of guide, it seems we’ve become a nation of design-savvy branding experts, provoked into extreme reaction (signing ‘online petitions’ and the like)

Well they (you) are all wrong.

Call me contrary, and this is pretty much the dictionary definition of the word, but the more people slag it off the more I like it. You could bring the subject up with almost anyone in London today and would get a response-that’s brand identity baby. It’s radical and edgy (within the context of olympic design) and says to me London is confident enough not to have to conform to any traditional staid olympic stereotypes but rather it will take the event and reform it in it’s own image (which is what culturally London has always done).

And it doesn’t care what you think-that’s what makes it great.

If it did it would be the blandest thing in the world (like the last four have been)-it would be the boring, sterile result of dick-blunting focus groups and would a) be saying nothing and b) have no-one talking about it (cause they wouldn’t care).

So well done to all concerned for having a pair.

And don’t be troubled by people who take part in online petitions-they are weak.

ps talking of people singlemindedly doing their own thing.

new from quaid (and part of the forthcoming scifi soul project) check out andromeda love

hard left and heavy.

 

the weather in london was glorious this weekend.

no matter which window i opened it smelled like barbeque.

the sun shone, it felt like the populous was in a great mood and while i made fat apple cinnamon pancakes for my favourite breakfast companion my ipod’s shuffle function which i’d been ignoring for months threw up this tune to smother our bacon and coffee fueled morning with more than just aunt jemima’s pancake syrup.

the bees  who’s myspace ‘like to meet’ is the recipe for best dinner party i’ve never been to (yogi bear, alice coltrane, danny way, prince, darth vader, aston barrett and gza) are from a small island off this small island and this track leaked off their most recent release some time in the early spring. i loved it back then but a belly full of pork, apple & caffeine and the love of a good man made this the perfect soundtrack to a hazy weekend au soleil.

steeped in a soggy reggae shuffle, laden with ascending brass hooks and tinny multi vocal parts next time it’s sunny round your way stick this on and get marinating.

the bees - listening man

Blame my old wingman Jez from his “chicago, damn!” post or chalk it up a bit of the old nostalgia for the pre-Katrina NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana for those who don’t know), but this post swings back to a time when jazz bands, not the National Guard, patrolled the streets of the Big Easy after dark. Closing in on two years since Katrina did her worst, and shit still ain’t the same–may never will be.But old (by American standards) NOLA’s got soul and no hurricane’s gonna take that away.

This joint is from the aforementioned Dirty Dozen Brass Band.  Seen them live twice: once opening for and playing with The Black Crowes, another time by their lonesome in a small club—both times deep in the Quarter.  Times are hard now, but there was a time…..

“…it don’t get much deeper than the tuba, baby…”

laissez les bons temps rouler

ain’t nothin’ but a party

A friend of mine uses the ‘list system’ for making important life decisions (especially those regarding his love life). Diligently noting down the pros and cons in opposing columns to determine which is the best course of action.

It’s all very rational , but it doesn’t really work that well cause there’s usually some kind of fudging going on and it’s not like all pros and cons have equal weight.

To be fair this track probably wouldn’t make it past the system. Too many cons baby!

First among these being some super-camp lyrics with an awkwardly persistent building theme;

Exhibit one;

“Got myself some tools together
I’m ready to hump some walls downTell me what’s the biggest project
My hammer-drill will sort that out”

It takes a lot to like, no love, a song that has that as it’s lyrical theme.

Thankfully our scandinavian brothers have more than enough in the kitty to overcome.

Synth heavy with just enough retro (just enough future) to keep both sides of my tastebuds happy and, most importantly,the best name for a band I’ve heard in freakin ages.

All hail Black Viking *

*big thanks to ‘job’ from djh for putting me on to this.