Brilliant, and to show you’re never too old to rock the crowd!

What I love about things like this is the reaction from the younger people who are amazed that someone of that age gets their music, culture etc. It’s necessary at that age to think that it’s all new and just for you, and make it or think it’s not understandable for older people…it doesn’t say what she is a trained singer in but modern electro house and rock bootlegs/remixes I doubt hold much surprise for those brought up on punk, disco, electro, house and reggae…it’s going to happen more and more as the house kids become of pensionable age

Losers (Tom from Cooper Temple Clause, singer friend, Eddy TM)

Last night I went to the Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip warmup show, and mighty fine it was too…not been to the Borderline before, squirrelled secretly down a side street I’d passed through many times without knowing it was there, quite small so I got quite a close view of proceedings.

First on wass Losers…I’m ashamed I didn’t spot who this was, I’d heard the name but friends on Twitter reminded me this was Eddy Temple Morris’s band with a former Cooper Temple Clause and a drummer…what proceeded was a mashup/glitch/dance/indie crossover, kind of a mix of DJ set including samples of the likes of Gossip, Passion Pit (?), Candi Staton and many others I didn’t recognise – and a few live numbers – I thought the live numbers such as debut single ‘No Man is an Island’ (available free at that link) with a cheeky ‘Losers – Just a band’ drop in the middle – see video clip) were best, but liked the controllerism mashupglitchsampletronica DJ set meets heavy bass and real drums approach. After a quiet start really began to rock the crowd they finished on a cool version of You Got The Love with Candi on vocals…I do think a later slot would do them more justice.

Also blowing my mind was their VJ – rocking some cool animations/video live in sync, seemed to be using a MacBook with what looked like Ableton for video, loads of faders on screen with a small central video panel – any ideas what that was? ME WANT.

So after the warm up Dan Le Sac came onstage with a cheery wave and fired up a wonderfully stuttery ‘The Beat that My Heart Skipped’ and Scroobius Pip arrived, bottle of rose in tow. After some shenanigans involving a too-low keyboard and Scroobius admitted he was bloated and a bit slow due to ‘too much Venison pie’! they then launched into the first of the new songs, ‘Sick Tonight’, which with rapid fire rapping and evil dub/drum and bass bassline and skittery snares it’s a definite progression from Angles.

After that was a mix of oldies and newies – stand outs for me of the new tracks were ‘GB’ a ranty political track that should stoke some revolutionary flames and of course a triumphant ‘Get Better’ (which they reminded us is released as a single March 1st) which I have in full here: (most of the time out of respect for Dan & Dave I decided not to record whole bits, and anyone I hate those cunts who hold cameras and mobile phones aloft for hours at a time getting in the way – I was lucky where I was a pillar was behind me so I wasn’t blocking anyone’s view…I was dancing as well at parts hence the rather shakycam…well if you have a problem with that then you should’ve been there, you lazy fuckers

Oh and GB apparently went wrong providing unintentional humour as Dan said to the soundman straight-faced ‘Great Britain is broken!!!’ – also Dan had a new toy in the shape of a controller and was having fun stuttering, looping and swooping everything so apparently a few technical issues but I didn’t hear any! Loads of intentional humour too – Pip’s on-stage manner is less hiphop braggadacio and more music hall and very dry and arch – you can see why he likes Tommy Cooper.

Another good one was ‘Stake A Claim’ which I can’t remember much more of apart from the fact it was indeed, good and like all the new tracks very uptempo and bloopy (that’s the technical term)…less so was The Beat which as they say in ‘Fixed’ (which they also played) ‘I’m not dissing Dizzee Rascal’ but sounded more closer to a cynical ‘Bonkers’ cash-in ploy than it should coming from those two, rhyming the beat with the feet, just seemed a bit lazy dancefloor filler (in the other sense). They also played ‘Last Train Home’ which was a story about – surprisingly – the last train home to Essex and the slightly dodgy people that you meet, which was OK, could be a grower.

Of the old stuff as well as Fixed they played Angles with costume changes, and a great version of Thou Shalt Always Kill which I have in full on video, and
humorously someone kept requesting Tommy C but they weren’t going to play it so the last track ‘Letter From God to Man’ became ‘Letter from Tommy C to man’! That ended with a total Dan Le Sac knob-twiddling wig out, where it turned into a dance stormer – by then everyone was dancing like crazy.

Overall the new songs sound great – social commentary and conscience but with an uptempo danceable backing…the production seems less mid-range and rock/indie and more deeper, with subbass and rave basses coming to the fore (at least one track was totally a dirty MOAR WOBBUL bassline stomper that would make the likes of Jack Beats and AC Slater happy), sort of a more politically conscious ‘Bonkers’, with skittery beats and glitchy chopping. If there is any justice and going by the reaction to ‘Tongue in Cheek’ it should be massive…

It bodes well for the album ‘Logic Of Chance’ which drops on March 14th, and the tour a week or so later….rilly they should pay me for this promo, but I shall declare my interests in this matter – I think they are a fucking brilliant group who deserve far better exposure. That is all.

About to head off to the wilds of Surbiton to see John, probably be online in one way or t’other but y’all have a Happy Scroogemas and Bah Humbug New Year! Happy HanuKwanzaWinterDrinkymas!

So to celebrate my commiserations of the season, here is my Bah Humbug exclusive compilation I gave out to people who came to the 2nd Radio Clash night in 2005 (also called Bah Humbug!) – was that 4 years ago? Wow. I’m uploading this because I met up with Kirk last night and he said he still listens to it every Xmas while wrapping presents, so it definitely gets the Coverley Classic ™.

Also reuploaded the Bah Humbug mix also from 2005, you’ll get a bit of deja vu from this but it’s an expanded version of this compilation – but in lower quality to get the filesize…and it’s mixed!

You can get a zip file of the compilation here – enjoy! Or don’t, grinches!

01. Wayne Butane / Xmas (Excerpt)
02. Sparks / Thank God It’s Not Christmas
03. Bob Rivers / Chipmunks Roasting On An Open Fire
04. The Chipmunks / Xmas with the Devil
05. A plus D / Give Da Jew Girl Toys (Dirty)
06. Princess Superstar / I Hope I Sell a Lot of Records at Christmastime
07. Culturcide / They Aren’t The World
08. Cassetteboy / Up the Chimney
09. Mae West / Put The Loot In The Boot, Santa
10. Culturcide / Santa Claus Was My Lover
11. Vandals / Christmas Time for my Penis
12. Cassetteboy / Happy Cliffmas
13. Vim / When a Child is Bored
14. Little Marcy / Suzy Snowflake
15. Tiny Tim / Santa Claus Has Got the Aids
16. dj BC / Turbo Sleigh Ride
17. The Fall / Jingle Bell Rock
18. Bob Rivers / Wreck the Malls
19. Mr. T Experience / Merry Fucking Christmas
20. Voicedude / Carol Of The Burgers
21. Peter & The Test Tube Babies / I’m Getting Pissed For Christmas
22. Dwarves / Drinking Up Christmas
23. Showcase Showdown / Merry Christmas I Fucked Your Snowman
24. JIROB v Paul McCartney / Pipes of Peace (gentle remix)
25. Adam Sky / Shakin’ and a Bakin’
26. Shitmat / Dis Dancehall Ting Is Better Than That T.V. Ting Tony
27. Rx / Happy RxMas & a Whole Lotta Love
28. TBC Poundsystem / Don’t Lose my Funky Sledge

Calling All Shipping – MV Soundhog is broadcasting on all frequencies for possibly the last time with Radio Soundhog 7 (but then again Ben Hayes like his mate Frenchbloke always says ‘never again’ then pops up on the starboard bow when you least expect it).

It’s a wonderful and in some parts jaw-dropping hour-long mix, if you’ve tuned in before you’ll know what to expect, but if not you get funky 60’s grooves, modern electronica, 80’s tunes and rock all mixed like you’ve never heard before in one special transmission. Expecially amazing this time is the Renegades of Funk vs Human League section, and the Gang Of Four punk backed Mirror in the Bathroom going into manic drum and bass (has he been listening to DJ-C’s mix of ‘Mirror’?).

I hope he increases the frequency (hoho) of this sort of thing, if not long mixes like Radio Soundhog, then remixes or even *gasp* bootlegs or DJ gigs, basically he should stop moaning and get out there

And I love the Tempest quote it ends on, with Dr Who / Mr Wurzel Gummidge Jon Pertwee reading:

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d tow’rs, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

And is that Stephen Fry at the end? LOL.

The final part of this journey down bootleg history lane is probably the biggest project, covering all tracks from Blur’s legendary Parklife album, A-sides and B-sides in 2 CD set to honour it’s 10 year anniversary of release.

Conceived by McSleazy and helped out by RadioQuita then from Strangely Familiar and created as with London Booted from the people on Get Your Bootleg On messageboard, it came out a few months after the aforesaid Clash album and again was popular with many blogs.

This one didn’t get an physical release so probably in some ways is rarer, but there are some real gems on there. The star-studded international assortment of bootleg & mashup DJ names you’ll probably recognise (or should seeing what they went onto) that contribute tracks are Loo & Placido, Lenlow (Bootie Boston), Go Home Productions, McSleazy, Pojmasta and JoolsMF (both also the people behind DJ Hero creating most of those mixes), DJ Payroll, Gameover, Dunproofin, Mixomatosis, FakeID aka Lionel Vinyl/Geek Chic Soundsystem, DJ Tripp and Josh Console aka cry on my console (Pirate Soundsystem/again DJ Hero) and many more.

My tracks? Well I still stand by my b-side ‘Golden Beard‘ by my alter-ego ‘timbearcub’ – later just ‘tbc’ the world’s worst DJ name – as one of my best ever, Slowdive meets Nina Simone and only 3.4 seconds of Blur’s frankly terrible jazz-wankathon ‘Beard’. ‘Godlife‘ – well I love the intro, but really the Acapella of Doom although being in key (I checked, both are Eminor Dm or something) claimed another victim. It’s those evil Beach Boys harmonies…goes in to the ‘not bad, could do better folder’ really.

I’ve included both artworks (the ones shown here are by myself, the bumper cars/whippet) and an interview done by theconfidential with all the people involved and RadioQuita.

Girls who are boys who like boys to be girls who do boys like they’re girls who do girls like they’re boys can download the zip file via Mediafire here (164Mb) or failing that (and only if it doesn’t work) then try the direct link here which should never change (warning: any hammering of my server or sharing of the direct link and I will take it down again!).

Disc 1 – Parkspliced album

1. Blur – Grrls & Bots (JoolsMF and Duff Fader)
2. Blur – Tracy Jacks (McSleazy)
3. Blur – End Of The Century (Gameover)
4. Blur – Godlife (Instamatic)
5. Blur – Bank Holiday (Payroll)
6. Blur – Goodhead (Jet Set Alex)
7. Blur – The Cassette Dissector (10000 Spoons)
8. Blur – Even Further Out (Pop Razors featuring m3)
9. Blur – No Blur No Cry (Loo and Placido)
10. Blur – Londinium Loves (Go Home Productions)
11. Blur – System Error in the Msg Centre (FakeID)
12. Blur – Naughty Dover Girl (DJ Tripp)
13. Blur – Magic America (Fujikato)
14. Blur – Jubilee (Fujikato)
15. Blur – Is This A Bootleg? (Dunproofin and m3)
16. Blur – Lot 1110101111001101010105 (cry.on.my.console)

Disc 2 – Parkspliced B-sides

1. Blur – Hey Magpie (Ilunga)
2. Blur – People In Europe Spread Love (Miss Frenchie)
3. Blur – Pojjy Waltz (Pojmasta)
4. Blur – Peter Panic and the Wolf (Lenlow)
5. Blur – Miracle on Threadneedle Street (Faultside)
6. Blur – You Can’t Go To The End (Mixomatosis)
7. Blur – Goldenbeard (timbearcub)
8. Blur – Shop Like A Britpop Millionaire (DJ Nite)
9. Blur – Theme From An Imaginary Chameleon Affair (CompactRisk)
10. Blur – Red Neck (Bad Tattoo)
11. Blur – Alex’s Hidden Place (Softbot)
12. Blur – Got Yer Album Dun (DJ Porky)