It’s the end of an era over at firemusic with Disco Jesus release the final in his epic, and much loved, mix series. As he ventures to unconfirmed (but potentially very exciting) pastures neu-we are left with a classic selection of un-disco-vered gems and ‘only he could get away with this’ epics.

As usual it’s all mixed live and (for extra analog kudos) recorded on c90 (before being EQ’d in the basilika mixing desk). There’s no track listing, but this bio should give you all the info you need;

Psych, synth, left-coast, late-night sleaze with a sprinkling of stoner rock
and underground electro - Disco Jesus weaves another mix of his distinctly
personal take on the underbelly of late 70s/early 80s European
disco-inflected sounds: progressive gems with a classic quality that still
feel fresh today!

It’s been an education.

Disco Jesus-Papillon

To be frank I’m a little Prince-d out.  After a long summer gorging myself on concerts, aftershows and unreleased gems my purple-appetite was fully sated. More than that, what with it being the a full 20 years since his last decent album, the long standing rumours (and evidence) of unmetered control-freakery and those ‘PR friendly’ lawsuits against his own fans perhaps it is time to get some perspective.

Next week sees the release of Controversy A Tribute to Prince a collection of hit and miss cover versions. It’s an interesting selection, highlighting the complex relationship between song and songwriter and providing a useful insight into the influence of Prince’s persona has the music he makes.

There is obviously a fare amount of rubbish. It’s probably not in the best interests of most  musicians to invite direct comparisons with someone as gifted a Prince. It’s certainly hasn’t made me think any more of Blue States and Peaches who bring nothing to limp versions of Alphabet St and Sexy Dancer respectively, but elsewhere quality prevails. D’Angelo brings his voodoo funk to the lesser known ‘She’s always in my Hair’ and The Broadway Project’s version of ‘Dorothy Parker’ has been a long time favorite of mine (wasn’t it on another Prince cover version alvum ?)- both sound great. The Dynamic bring their patented ’surprising reggae cover version’ schtick to ‘Girls  and Boys’ *cough*one trick pony*cough* and Rob Mello does a version of Critical (??) which really wants to be Moodymann’s majestic ‘U Can Dance if you want 2′ ,but clearly isn’t.

Best of the bunch is Susanna and The Magical Orchestra’s take on ‘Around the World in a Day’s’ classic slow-y ‘Condition of the Heart’. Stripping away the psychedelic flourishes and the freaky Prince touches to reveal an intimate and melancholy love song, Susanna takes the song back to it’s wendy & lisa penned (?) origins. It’s a song that works better the more it reveals. Something Prince spends most of his time trying not to do.

You can hear it here.

Susanna and The Magical Orchestra-Condition of the Heart

ahh, there we are.

back from the brink. and sweden.

this is a toe in the water post. i’ve almost forgotten what to do, its been so long. but before i’m set adrift again in a sea of wrapping paper, roast turkey and mulled ale here’s something i overheard whilst doing a spot of what rather bizarrely feels like last minute christmas shopping even though we’re only 6 days into advent.

anyhoo, courtesy of the dude who looked a bit like jefferson hack djing in the menswear department of my very favourite shop in london; a gallic cover of an anglo-classic (be still my beating heart) the dynamics and their less disco-more reggae version-de-couverture of miss you.

i’m not sure why this captivated me more than the stone-cold surity of the original, though there’s something in this which sounds like it was the source material and jagger/richards just pinched it. but some crackly production values and a jews harp’ll do that to a girl.

merci et c’est bon d’etre de retour.

the dynamics - miss you

image via
while a certain someone has already recognised that i’ve been trawling old romancing mixtapes for posts over the past few months it’s not going to stop me from upping some of my best archival material in my last few weeks as a single girl.

four or so years ago, before they released albums by both bob dylan and paul mccartney and while they were mostly hawking ella fitzgerald as froth on your jazzpuccino a rather cute valentine’s day compliation surfaced on hearmusic, starbucks’ record label.

sweetheart love songs was an album of covers by bands who are now some of hl’s favourites; iron and wine, rosie thomas and ron sexsmith amongst others, enough there for me to dunk my listening biscotti into alone and this little gem by alt.country swooners beachwood sparks, a cover of sade’s beautiful 2001 single by your side, is something i’ve treasured since i found the album in a midtown boston coffee sink an entire lifetime ago.

(seconds from a life i never dreamed i’d lead; i’m right by your side.)

beachwood sparks - by your side

pic via ‘the bru’

Fresh from some heavy diggin sessions in New York and Paris, Disco Jesus is back doing what he does best; stretching musical boundaries and bringing his rich musical heritage to bear on two decks, a mixer and 90 minutes of audio tape.

The thing I enjoy most about his selections is that you never really know where it’s gonna go next. He describes his latest mix like this;

Kraut, prog, synth-wave, 80s leftism, proto-house, camp boogie and high-browdisco - it’s all in the melting pot that forms the latest Disco Jesus mix entitled “La Nuit Blanche”. Inspired by nostalgic fragments of late Riviera nights and glimpses of Polanski, Besson and Berger, it provides another distinctly personal take on underground disco-inflected sounds from the late 70s and early 80s with a flourish of early 90s. Somewhere, elsewhere!

I’ll just let the music do the talking.

Disco Jesus-La Nuit Blanche

it’s paris for us again next week.
mais oui.

and does that mean more french house aux latitudes?
mais oui!

straight out of our new manor (and with thanks and compliments to the chef- chris at gvsb) russ chimes has got his london mitts on les enfants francais, college’s track ‘teenage color’ which was already a pretty tasty slice of electro synthiness and garnished it southwark styles.

the result? it kind of sounds like teenkids in branded pastel leisurewear and centimes arcades in northern france in 1987.
from what i remember.

the vrai combination of phoenix-esque eighties froth-rock guitar lines and a dab of heavy daft punkiness - plus all the things i found enormously exotic about french exchange trips without having to stay with a weird family who eat potato at breakfast.

do yourselves all a favour and head over to russ chimes’ myspace for more of his stuff, if you’re in that kind of miami-neon sort of mood then she’s got the heat is what you need playing out of your ferrari 328. seriously.

and so with a paul quiche lorraine in my belly from lunch and the prospect of hopping on of the last eurostars out of waterloo on monday i’m left wondering, ah france… could i love you any more?
moi, non plus.

college - teenage colors (russ chimes remix)

(image via)

despite the fact i said i didn’t much like it at the time charlotte gainsbourg’s 5.55 has been floating in my head most of the weekend, though my internal dj has been cutting it up with another numerically titled track, james figurine’s 55566688833. and in here that sounds awesome.

not that his is a musical vibe i’d normally be following, it’s a bit too ‘warm leatherette’ for my taste but i love the musical assertion of the perils of non-premptive texts and failing relationships.

if you’re saving time with your girlfriend by sending texts rather than hanging out then it’s probably a relationship that’s serving your mobile phone operator better than your lovelife but hey, its just a super-catchy song not a life lesson.

still, go and listen to charlotte’s digital acoustic and see if you can make it add up too.

and while i’m sending you off to listen to things, its a good time to say head over to the hype machine and keep your browser open so we can all get a look at whatever newness anthony’s been planning.

james figurine - 55566688833

(pic via)

Amidst all the praise and recriminations regarding the release of Radiohead’s new album is the tacit admission of the inherent bankruptcy at the heart of the music industry. If Radiohead, first among bands of their era, have put the price of music in the digital age somewhere around ‘what ever you fancy’, how much less the ocean of mediocrity clogging up digital stores and ‘priced about right’ torrent sites around the world.

The value of music in a digital environment is pretty close to nothing, save for conscience and convenience. In a spooky echo of some of the things we have been talking on-Radiohead seem to think it’s more about packaging and performance.

Seems like a pretty good bet.

In a culture which, as any good media studies student will know, the medium and the message are so inextricably linked-the leap from vinyl to cd to mp3 has been a thorough education in the law of diminishing returns.

For the consumer the ‘industry’ part of that most tragic of all non sequiturs ‘the music industry’, has been tirelessly and ruthlessly exposed in hideous antipiracy campaigns, DRM deals with the devil and crazy, suicidal lawsuits.

For the artist, trying to make something meaningful in the an environment where the delicate balance between creativity and fiscal reality (which at one time seemed so easy) has long since tipped in the favour of accountants and endless middle management.

The untold value of context.

What price a chance to wipe the slate? No more protest songs from multinationals, the radical edges of our lives long since outsourced and needlessly spent chasing teen demographics.

No coincidence perhaps that ‘In Rainbows‘ is Radiohead’s strongest album for ages. It sounds like a body of work, rather than a collection of difficult (if often beautiful) excursions beyond their comfort zone. More importantly, by providing a model for ‘artisian musicians’, Radiohead have found themselves in a position few artists can rightful claim.

At the start of something new.

And it’s worth buying just for that-the thrill of something new and the sound of castles burning.

It’s the most vital cultural event of the decade.

Get the whole thing here

(pic via)

Checked out waajeed at the jazz cafe last week.

It was all kinds of ropey.

Just a lame-assed dj set-if I had paid the £16/£20 door charge, I’d have been mad.
Some guy in a big gold chain wheeling out tired hiphop plattitudes. 45 minutes of ‘this one’s for dilla’ (can’t we let this dude rest in peace) followed by a shocking ‘party set’;'funkin for jamacia’ into ‘running away’ into ‘billie jean’ (!) on tuesday?

Damn.

The guy’s from detroit, he should know better.

Also in the house was someone who certainly does know better, producer of some of the edgiest/heaviest music of the last 10 year3- Kenny Dixon Jr. He was a courteous and charming dude, full of stories and the kind of generous soul you secretly hope all your musical  inspirations possess. We talked about Prince a lot and I bugged him about releasing ‘freaky motherfucker’, a track he’s played live a few times, which he recorded back in the 90’s but has never made it to vinyl-it’s sort of shit that Prince would be making if he’d hadn’t lost his way sometime in around 1989.

He’s playing with gilles at the brownswood birthday party on saturday-reach.

Also showing up the main event was the support act-mile-end’s finest, ‘Yes King Soundsystem’ who destroyed it with their fine blend of ragga-hiphop-soul. Not sure when they are releasing something, but as a live thing it’s definitely worth checking.

I hope waajeed was taking notes.

Yes King-Elevate

ps for all the moodymann you will ever need check out this selection from our mate matt

last week was a fallow week for my horse latitudes uppage.

late to bed, early to rise. undoubtably there’ll be tears before bedtime.
for a while, i wondered what happened to my purple prose. but since its a week since i heard a song all the way through (with the exception of a sublime gig by the ukulele orchestra of great britain when i got twelve or so) maybe i was missing fuel to my fire.

but you know how you turn to old habits when things hit a tired, milky dusk - so is it a suprise that i’m posting a cover version?
a damien jurado cover version?
of a j.tillman song?

sounds like home before you’ve gotten your key in the lock.

i do love friends covering friends - rarely self-referential enough to be elitist, it’s a proud to call you mine moment caught on tape or on stage.

so thank you to the brilliant hard to find a friend for posting the whole kexp set, and j.tillman who loved it enough to call damien an asshole. since we’re sending you out of the latitudes for a minute to follow that link, do check out the several new tracks he and jenna also played, it’s little surprise that i can’t wait for the new damien jurado album.
and tour.

yet more from the future.

damien jurado - when i light your darkened door