Sehr Kosmische

Minimal cosmicisity from 1980 with 10% extra drama thrown in for free. It's all rare and that (and the original is a bit of a crap pressing by all accounts) - luckily Cloud have done a reissue with an ace Klaus Shultze track on the flip.

Buy Me

Shock - R.E.R.B.



John Fahey says more without needing to speak than a hundred Beatles songs. There is unbelievable subtlety in this song that rewards 500 listens.

John Fahey - Impressions of Susan

Buy the 'Days Have Gone By' Album

rob

Slowcore

Picture the scene. You're flying back to Earth from the war on Venus that's still raging behind you. It's 6am. You've got 2 days off and then it's back to Venus for another bombing raid. All you want to do is smoke some of that Venetian bud and sleep for 2 days. This would be the first track you'd stick on as you flew into the sunrise to get galactically stoned.

Supermax - Ain't Gonna Feel

In 1981 Supermax toured as the first mixed-race band through South-Africa and Venda. Despite warnings and death threats, Supermax finished the tour, but this made some countries refuse permits for entry and consequently the group was black-listed by some political organizations. Crazy scenes for an Austrian disco band. Check the flip of this record for slightly larger BPM counts and the ace 'African Blood'.

Buy one on Discogs

Yacht Rocking

There comes a time in a businessman's life when all he wants to do is buy some primo cocaine and some Laurent Perrier and retreat to the yacht and kick back to some rock music, preferably the kind recorded in a studio that had plenty of primo cocaine and Laurent Perrier lying around.

The kind of records that kept a lot of session guys in work for around 10 years from the late 70s. A lot of them went on to purchase yachts of their own.

Imagine the studio environment. Giant Neve desks, all 60 channels heaving with complicated guitar lines. 14 different kinds of reverb unit. Those Parker Fly guitars. Cocaine. Laurent Perrier. Books on musical theory. Cocaine.

Anyway, if you're planning on sailing this weekend this mix from the guys over at the Potionlords blog should see you in good stead. It'll take you away. To where you're going. Doo di doo.

Yacht 2 Nowhere: Live from Key West 1986

Tracklist:

The Sanford Townsend Band- Smoke From A Distant Fire
Christopher Cross- Never Be The Same
Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina- Nobody But You
Toto- Rosanna
Michael McDonald- Sweet Freedom
Steely Dan- Old School
Rupert Holmes- Escape (The Pina Colada Song)
America- Magic
Christopher Cross- Ride Like The Wind
Glenn Fry- Smugglers Blues
Hall & Oates- I Can't Go For That (Live)
Orleans- Reach
Mike Post Featuring Larry Carlton- Theme From Hill Street Blues
Jan Hammer- Theme from Miami Vice
Vangelis- Chariots of Fire Titles

Stop Bajon

The most infectious Balearic-Italo-pop record ever. Which isn't even a genre.

Best listened to in a dayglo Fiorucci top and shorts and a pair of those shades with the lights in them. In Rimini. This appearance on German TV featured a sitar player for no other reason than there was one lying around in the studio.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5XtSItFQ3E

Tullio De Piscopo - Stop Bajon

b00mb0x Carl Craig mixes

Couple of mixes from the sometimes-excellent b00mb0x blog, these 2 are hardly the most eclectic you'll hear as they're all by the same guy, but there's few better ways to spend an hour's bus journey than listening to a pretty comprehensive Carl Craig remix career retrospective. If you want a tracklist click the .jpegs for bigger. Enjoy.
Rob

Mix 1


Mix 2

1. Gus gus – Polyesterday (Carl Craig dub remix)
2. Coldcut – Rubaiyat (Carl Craig mix)
3. Rhythm and Sound – Poor people must work (Carl Craig remix)
4. Ron Trent – Altered States (Carl Craig eastside remix)
5. Recloose – Can’t take it (Carl Craig mix)
6. Dave Angel – Airborne (Carl Craig remix)
7. Goldfrapp – Fly me away (C2 remix 2)
8. Zap mama ft eryka badu – Bandy Bandy (Carl Craig mix)
9. Hugh Masekela – The boys doin it (Carl Craig remix)
10. Inner City – Ahnonghay (Carl Craig remix)
11. BT – moment of truth (Carl Craigs urban affair mix)
12. Spacetime Continuum - Kairo (Carl Craig mix)
13. Carl Craig – DJ Kicks
14. Delia Gonzales and Gavin Russom – Relevee (Carl Craig remix version1)
15. Throbbing Gristle – Still walking (Carl Craig reversion)
16. Adult – Hand to Phone (Carl Craig remix)
17. Paperclip people – For my peeps
18. Beanfield – Tides (C’s Movement #1)
19. Theo Parrish – Falling up (Carl Craig remix)
20. Green Velvet – Flash (Carl Craig’s Paperclip People Mix)
21. Terry Brookes and Aaron Soul – City Life (Carl Craig’s Max Mix)
22. Quadrant – Infinition (Carl Craig mix)

Chips Speaks to the Real Dolls..

This blog was never intended to be one of those 'here's what we think is cool this month, please download it and bore the fuck out of the dancefloor at your clubnight with it, all of whom downloaded the same track from the same blog anyway' blogs, there's people doing that far better than we could ever hope to out there. So there'll be very few Feadz re-edits coming up exclusively on here. In fact, none.

What we'll hopefully have coming up is a selection of booze-fuelled chats with some of the bands we've got coming up interspersed with the odd exclusive live mix, pod-chat, web-cast, whatever, all in Googlephonic stereo. And music we like. Lots of it. And maybe even a few mixes from us, whenever we all are next in the same city.

So Chips is back on the 29th with Ebony Bones which you already know about, and going pretty much weekly Saturdays at Deaf and Dumb from then on. We've all manner of ace stuff programmed in, more of that later. The second Chips on Saturday 8th March at Deaf and Dumb features a band we've been trying to book for a while now, so we're glad to finally pin them down. And pin them down we did. To me, Real Dolls are equal parts 2 Live Crew, 'Sign O' The Times' -era Prince, Peaches and Andrew WK. The live show in the past has seen the likes of fan dancers, bikini-clad girls wearing giant reindeer heads and impromptu Fall homages.

If there were more bands like this in Manchester then, er, I'd probably leave London and come and watch bands up there more often. Anyway, I caught up with them recently and asked them a few questions about what we're in for.

Hey, Real Dolls. Great to finally have you on the Chips stage. From what I've heard so far, live and recorded, there's a healthy range of different influences I'm picking out - and it's good to hear a healthy booty bass influence coming from a UK band, though sometimes I pick out stuff like Peaches and Andrew WK - what would you say were your biggest influences?

You're right with Peaches, and we hadn't thought of dirty Mr WK but you could have something there too?! It's tempting too reel off a huge list of artists that inspire us creatively, but it gets bigger every day. We're all junkies for this god damn shit!! W e like a lot of hard rock and hip-hop, techno, electro..funk - Ah, fuck it, lets do some lists, the age of the list is upon us! -In no specific order, stuff we're each listening to right now that's potentially inspiring us and our SOUND:

Rod is listening to a lot of Diplo's shit and a lot of the Baille funk-influenced bass music, the Bi-Conicals of the Rammelzee is on heavy rotation at the moment, Cybertron, Metroplex, and Todd Terrys Royal House album.

Parkertron is hammering documentary DVDs, The MC5 and the Ramones are under scrutiny right now - and on the decks it's Death From Above 1979, Schooly-D, Egyptian lover and ACDC

Real Dve is pretty much loving everything coming out of Baltimore: Dan Deacon, Spank Rock et al, plus TV on the Radio, Battles, Mastodon, and he cant seem to put Giorgio Moroder down right now, even the good/bad shit like Push it to the Limit!! [off the Scarface soundtrack]

Yoshi listens to whatever the DJ is playing in any of the bars clubs or shops she lives in, she only goes home to sleep.

Ricky Doll just said he's listening to lots of old very unfasionable music but we've heard him playing Suicide, lots of Miles and some bossa nova.

Its hard to say exactly which bands have the most influence, but i guess that gives you a clue
where we're coming from.

Could you tell us a little bit the bands' plans for the year? How about your plans for the next 10 years? What about the next 50 years? The next 100 years?

The plan for this year is to get some tracks out and hopefully get some action started in time for the festivals, hopefully the Mount Fuji festival! Next year, we will move up to Academy 1 size venues, headlining our own tours, then move across Europe and soon after conquer America and the far east! After all that there will be some big budget action musical films made, many children will be born and lots of abstract paintings painted.

When can we expect a Real Dolls album? What's in the pipeline?

The album is pretty much done - we are talking with people - we also have remix album almost complete featuring our tracks remixed by lots of pals..it's great!

What's your live setup like these days? Last time I saw you, at Blowout in the Bier Keller I think, there were fan dancers, a girl wearing a reindeer head and half a bikini, and god knows what else.. How important is the visual aspect to your shows? What can the Chips crowd expect this time?

The visual aspect is still very important to us, but we have moved on a bit since back then. We always want to look like a band and we want people to know we are making an effort. Our setup live has changed dramatically we've saved our pocket money up and got some new kit. It's seriouse and sounds IIIILLL!! The Chips crowd can expect to sweat.

With the Chips blog we're trying to have an element of introducing music to people they might not have heard before, dunno, like a lesser-known floor-killer or a proper 4am devastator that makes everyone in the room fall silent with awe. Any tips for our readers?

OK!! lets see now.well on a dance tip "Security" by the Beat Club is pretty ace,"Set it off" by Big Daddy Kane is pretty nice too.."Boys in the Hood" or "da hood" - can't remember, the remix on Easy-E's Easy Duzzit kills it! A track called "The End(disco)"arranged by Ralf Hennings on a German release of the music of John Carpenter would do the trick too!

What were the last 5 records you bought? (We realise there's more than one of you, you are allowed to take the average / omit that Orb record you picked up for 1.50 in Vinyl Revival if you like)

Right, we'll just do one each as they're is five of us..!

1.The first Danzig album (bought at a car boot in Stoke)
2.Someone Great - LCD soundsystem(Fopp)
3.Relics by DMZ(downloaded)
4.The Human League - Holiday 80, Double 7"(King Bee records)
5.Atakak..(download)

Would you say it's a good time to be making music in Manchester?

It's always a good time to be making music, it can help you forget where you are! Manchester needs more live music promoters like Chips!more clubs playing better music, the independent spirit of our great city center is slowly being suffocated by the installation of millions of luxury flats.The scary thought is that at some point they will all be full of luxury people demanding luxury life styles that will be provided to them by special teams of luxury experts! At the same time 18-year old kids are shooting each other dead at an alarming rate! The balance needs to be addressed.
yours truly Bernard - Real Dolls Right ON. xx

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http://www.myspace.com/therealdolls

FREE REAL DOLLS MP3 - Simply visit http://www.therealdolls.co.uk/, fill out your email address and a crisp dancefloor-friendly Real Dolls MP3 is yours!

See you down the front on the 8th..

Rob

Summer is Here

Clube Da Esquina - Lo Borges / Milton Nascimento (1972)

It isn't. Not in the slightest. There were 4 hours of sunshine today and I got all excited and cracked out the Brazilian records and switched the heating off for a bit. Short-lived, but any excuse to mention this record. Great as it's obviously very Beatles-influenced but full of oddball time signatures and the chord progressions always throw you a curve and miss the obvious. A few years after this record he broke massively, and the inevitable collaboration with professional World-sniffer Paul Simon occurred sometime later. You should be able to find this in OK condition for around a tenner.

Tudo Que Você Podia Ser


I have this fantasy about dropping this next one mid-'set' sometime. Literally from a 130bpm pummelling to abrubtly stopping everything and putting this on. Maybe even standing atop the decks in a crucifixion pose and switching all the lights off as it plays. Actually, it's something only Erick Morillo is really able to pull off. No thanks. If anyone else manages it let us know.

Popul Vuh - Wehe Khorazin (Fitzcarraldo soundtrack)

Rob

My Uncle Designed The Anal Staircase

This exquisite song by No Bra is kinda like the bored hipster equivalent of popular playground chant "My Dad's harder than yours" except with underlying sexual tension, references to Bratmobile, Topshop, David Blaine and most bizarrely the anal staircase!(?) It perfectly captures the kind of pointless conversation that may or may not regularly happen at Shoreditch art parties but with a banging electronic beat and mega dub reverb. It's total genius and above all, very funny. No Bra is Susanne Oberbeck who is very talented and I suggest you go to http://www.nobra.co.uk/ and buy some music.

No Bra - Munchasen

Lee

Buses and Trains

Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts is apparently in awe of West African music, and if you trawl through his album if makes a lot of sense. It's good to hear a proper album for a change, as in there's tracks for the floor and the couch intertwined and making total sense together rather than jarring, with no filler to speak of. Horns, afro-beat, techno, swing and barbershop quartet, what more do you need?

Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts - Les Gans

This next track is just a great slow-burner, and before you know it 10 minutes have passed.

Floating (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) - Jape

- Rob

You snooze, you lose

I was listening to some new stuff from long-time Chips favourite Chilly Gonzales' forthcoming album earlier (Soft Power, out early April). Sounding promising, the 2 tracks I heard sounded like a combination of Vince Guaraldi (who did the music for Peanuts, amongst other things), a musical interlude from Sesame Street about cooperation and maybe one of the gospel songs from Sister Act. That good.

There's a bit of a video taster knocking around. It's like one of those music workshops they'd make you do at school. Or maybe that was just my school.

Watch the Video to 'Working Together'

Seeing Gonzales and Feist live sometime soon after the Presidential Suite album dropped has to rate amongst my top 5 gigs ever, though maybe that's just because I'm writing about him now and can't remember any other gigs I've been to. It had it all, exploding cigars, safari suits, chest hair, um, Feist in a safari suit, you get the idea.

I'm trying to see if I can get the hang of this MP3 blog bullshit. I've been listening to a lot of thug rap and Baltimore club of late, possibly because I keep forgetting to update the playlist on my poxy 4gb iPod with some fresh stuff and it's all that's on there. I have a lot of time for people who make beats solely from gunshots, like this DJ Blaqstarr track. - Rob

DJ Blaqstarr - Tote it