No, don’t say he’s Britain’s greatest living blogger or he’ll fuck off again.
Dubstep latest
Box Cutter: Brood b/w Sunshine
On Hotflush of course, Boxcutter shows off his phenomenal high tek skills — Brood is half step hyped up with vast timestretched breaks, and i wouldn’t be out of place in a Si Begg set. That’s a compliment by the way, I like Si Begg, and I like the way that a lot of Dubstep from Vex’d and Mark One outwards reworks the breaks blueprint. It’s not as good as the visceral cthonic impact of DMZ gear but then, what is? B-side Sunshine is, well, dubstep gone jazz funk — and it’s great!
Random Trio: Cyrus EP
Cyrus’ first proper release is an odd bag but it’s a grower. He doesn’t do the wobbly bassline thing (no, don’t tell me you’re bored with it, I don’t believe you), rather he focuses on extremely sparse tunes that lead on bongo hits with sub bass that is very, very subby — scarcely worth playing at home actually cos you simply won’t hear the bass (it’s present on my studio monitors but not on any of the hifi’s I’ve got). here is a bit of a “Cabaret Voltaire B-side” syndrome going on, but when it comes together on tracks like Indian Stomp it rocks — try this track in the mix, you won’t believe where it takes you.
http://www.randomtrio.blogspot.com/
http://www.randomtrioproductions.com/
Dusk and Blackdown: Submerged / Drenched.
On a similar note is Dusk and Blackdown, about whome one could almost say, welcome to the Drexciya of dubstep. We’re talkin widescreen, down-tempo, somewhat abstract dubstep that is occasionally (and wisely) laden with strings. It’s not a brilliant record, but it is very good, and it’s just a taste of what’s coming: the new EP, due in May, is vastly better and Lata in particular is going to catapault them into the stratosphere. Still, I’m glad I’ve got this one – though I quite fancy hearing it on CD. (Any chance, Martin?)
http://blackdownsoundboy.blogspot.com
D1: I Believe b/w Belong / Steamroller
I think this EP is maybe not quite as immediate as some of the D1 stuff out there; Steamroller is probably the most memorable tune here, but that might be just because it’s (to me) the most familiar. Even so, it’s brilliant music.
Loefah Vs Skream: 28g b/w FearlessLook, I’m not even going to review this. Just buy it while you can.
WordPress is fucking useless
That dubstep round up post was going to be a huge long thing but WordPress just won’t let it go up. Very irritating.
Bash rocks
The consensus is that Bash was a triumph. It was wild! I’m sure it’s partly to do with the fact that Dubstep is the hottest sound on the planet right now. For this was an evening where the leading lights of dubstep, convened by your hero and mine (and key link between Dubstep and its industrial forebears) Kevin Martin in partnership with Loefah (the best producer in the world right now? I think so), got together, kicked back, and played reggae, in the knowledge that by the end of 2006, they will probably all be so famous a relaxed night like this just won’t be able to happen.
So it goes with the historification process.
So get Bash while it’s hot. I think John put it best when he said it was like being in someone’s front room — someone with both fantastic taste in dancehall (and jungle, for that matter) and a HUGE fuck off sound system. (Not quite the best sound in London, not while Shaka’s alive anyway, but not bad.) And obviously, it’s not quite as good as being in John’s front room and playing his tunes, but then not many people have a collection as good as his.
I loved it from the first minute — yo know you’re onto a winner when Loefah’s on the door selling tickets (or in John’s case, crossing you off the guest list, jammy bastard) — I tell you, I nearly creamed myself. I met a bunch of other people that night and all I can say is, these dubstep folk are really nice. The picture above is me giving it up for Kode 9, who played a blinder and reckoned it was the most relaxed DJ set he’d ever done — “Play a record, hit stop, play another record” — though he still managed to play that DEVESTATING ragga jungle classic, Krome & Time’s “Studio 1 Lik”, which is a big fave of mine and went down an absolute storm. Pokes reached across the decks and rewound it straight off. Class.
Anyway. Bash. Dancehall power!!!
How to unblock a sink
FOR FUCK’S SAKE!
EVERYONE is now obsessed with how to unblock a sink.
Christ.
You pour champagne down the sink until the fucker pukes back at you. THEN it’s sorted.
Trust.
New Moll Selekta releases: Sugar Minott: the Roots Lover 1978 – 1983 and The Bunny Lee Rocksteady Years
I’ve just been sent two new releases on German reggae reissue label Moll Selekta (via the inestimable Steve Barker), a label I’d never heard of but seem to have over a dozen very interesting releases on their books. The Sugar Minott disc is a cracking double CD set of full-length, mainly early 80s roots and dancehall gems with an extremely high hit rate. We’re talking Channel One cuts with Roots Radics and Black Roots backing so musically most of the cuts are impeccable — and the mastering is by the maestro himself, von Oswald. Sleeve notes are fair; there’s a good biography, even if it’s obviously translated from the German (with somewhat error-prone typesetting), though the track information is a little sparse. But putting these minor quibbles to one side, there are HEAPS of absolutely KILLER tunes on this compilation. It’s well worth seeking out; go buy.
Everyone likes a bit of rocksteady, if only to trace the evolution of riddims that later surfaced in reggae and dancehall. Here we are presented with the sweetest of r’n’b harmonies over just-shy-of-reggae jerky beats and it’s fab. Another sumptuously produced and mastered release, it’s the best possible introduction to Bunny Lee’s treasure trove of rocksteady stompers. Recommended.
New Mix: Jungle Got Dub
Part two of my voyage into 94-era jungle takes into dark and murky dub. The mix starts cool and slow and funky before getting progressively more spaced out, then gets itself together with some dark ambient bass weight, before piling on the energy until it reaches maximum dub heaviosity. I like it. Tracklisting, with each song’s timings in the mp3 file, is as follows:
0.00: Flex: Rude Boy. De Underground Records 1994
3:15: L Double: Break It Down. (Breakdown Records) 1995
7:36: Dextrous: Heavenly Body. 1994
12:11: Droppin Science: Vol. 3: Firing Line. 1994
16:31: Tom & Jerry Vol 9: Air Freshener. 1994
20:40: Dillinja: Deadly Deep Subs (VIP Mix). 1994
23:54: Ganja Kru: Vol. 4: Mash Up Da Place. 1994
27:06: Ganja Kru: Cops (Johnny Jungle VIP Mix). 1994
30:40: Boogie Times Tribe: The Dark Stranger (Origin Unknown remix). Suburban Base 1993
31:55: Dope Style: You Must Think First. 1994
35:21: DJ Crystl: Warpdrive Deejay Recordings 1993
37:42: Dead Dred: Dred Bass (Origin Unknown Mix) Moving Shadow 1994
41:05: The Dreamteam: Yeah Man (VIP Remix) Joker Records 1994
45:06: Jonny Jungle: Johnny 94 (Origin Unknown Remix) Suburban Base 1994
49:26: Amazon II: Booyaaa! Aphrodite Recordings 1994 (re-edit)
55:29: Rus De Tox & Teebone: Selectors Roll Subliminal Records (UK) 1994
0.00 Flex: Rude Boy De Underground Records 1994
Marvellous bit of funky, rolling ragga jungle with ace funk samples
3:15 L Double: Break It Down 1995
Possibly also released as Music For the Nineties? Dunno. Very nice low-down crisp roller, with dubby stabs of Heavenly Body over the top.
7:36 Dextrous: Heavenly Body 1994
Did this get a release under this title? I dunno, but it’s ace, it fools you into thinking it’s a jungle take on ecstatic 80s nu-soul, but it keeps on turning into delightfully skanking ragga jungle.
12:11 Droppin Science Vol. 3: Firing Line 1994
Wa-hey! Wobbly bassline dub alert! Steppin’ breakz too. Love it.
16:31 Tom & Jerry Vol 9: Air Freshener 1994
Tom & Jerry’s inimitable sampled Rhodes chords blended with gorgeous ruffneck ragga. I’ve dubbed this to FUCK.
20:40: Dillinja: Deadly Deep Subs (VIP Mix) 1994
The sweetest, moodiest, most abstract, deep-down jungle dub tune you could wish for. We kind of “wake up” from the spaced dub with this one.
23:54: DJ Hype: Ganja Vol. 4: Mash Up Da Place 1994
A deep dark bassline wobbler. The perfect complement to…
27:06: Ganja Crew: Cops (Johnny Jungle VIP Mix) 1994
The CLASSIC DJ Hype tune with the coolest, most random sampled dialogue ever. Johnny Jungle adds considerably to the vibe.
30:40: Boogie Times Tribe: The Dark Stranger (Origin Unknown remix). Suburban Base 1993
Lovely spacey tune
31:55: Dope Style: You Must Think First. 1994
Extremely nice dubby jungle tune with wild syncopated breaks — another DJ Hype tune.
35:21: DJ Crystl: Warpdrive Deejay Recordings 1993
Steps UP. Absolutely MASSIVE, crushing breaks. Such a rhythmically sophisticated (yet mental!) tune I can’t believe it was made in 1993
37:42: Dead Dred: Dred Bass (Origin Unknown Mix) Moving Shadow 1994
A huge hit I know but Andy C and Miles’ mix is devestating. The other mixes haven’t worn quite so well, but this is still a headfuck of a record. But it’s just the prelude to…
41:05: The Dreamteam: Yeah Man (VIP Remix) Joker Records 1994
Achingly good, utterly savage, high tech jungle. If AC/DC made jungle, and used amens instead of guitars, this is what it would sound like. Marvellous.
45:06: Jonny Jungle: Johnny 94 (Origin Unknown Remix) Suburban Base 1994
Some funky 808-sine wave action to let you blow off some steam.
49:26: Amazon II: Booyaaa! Aphrodite Recordings 1994 (re-edit)
I just love this tune so much.The ultimate skanking ragga jungle record.
55:29: Rus De Tox & Teebone: Selectors Roll Subliminal Records (UK) 1994
Just a little bit of dubby jungle to take you out…
Interviews with Pagans: Phil Hine, part 2
Here’s the second installment of the Phil Hine interview. In this one he’s talking about stuff like:
magical groups an socialisation
confidence and relaxtion as a basic technique (there’s no such thing as an advanced technique, just basic stuff you get better at) the advantages of a magical point of view vs scientific one (“Arisotleian dualism: bag o’shite”)
client and community-based magic
what about the people who are excluded from magic?
You can get this from here.
29.5Mb: 21 minutes 28 seconds; 192Kmp3.
Interviews with Pagans: Phil Hine, part 1
Phil Hine is for my money the most interesting pagan writer around, and is certainly one of the most popular and influential people on the pagan sene. He’s erudite but down to earth and above all is a thoroughly nice person. His books are a fund of useful information and good sense and are as intellectually alive and practically focused as “pagan” books should be. I was therefore keen to include an interview with him in the “Pagan Interviews” series.
I’ve interviewed Phil a couple of times over the years, going back to the early nineties, but there was one particularly nice one from 1998 that had never been published. It was a hazy, warm June evening a couple of weeks short of the solstice when I walked over from my place in Brixton to his, to meet Phil and my friend John to do the interview. We had a merry time, which I hope comes across. You will notice that John is the cool one, I’m the eejit, while Phil is of course the wise old northern sorceror, as ever.
The interview has been sitting on my computer as an audio file for years, and bit by bit I’ve whittled the three hours or so of the original into a fairly neatly organised hour or so. And rather than type it up into a formal interview, I thought I would provide it as a recording, so you can get some of the man’s personality, and savour his broad Blackpool accent.
I am going to put these up once a week for the next three weeks, so you have a chance to digest them. 20 minutes is just about manageable in my opinion. In this first segment Phil talks about two related topics: Firstly, magical belief systems and the positive and negative treatment of them in chaos magic and in paganism generally. Secondly, he talks about cultural appropriation in magic and the need for respect for the magical traditions of other cultures when attempting to involve them in one’ own practice, which is still a hot issue.
Bear in mind that at the time, we intended to put this out as a print interview, and Phil wasn’t talking as if he was making a recording, just thinking out loud to create the basis for a magazine article. So it’s quite a direct, “guard-down” insight into Phil’s mind you’re getting here: chatting with friends and feeling comfortable in the summer warmth, rather than doing a formal presentation or performance for the microphone. So cut him some slack!
I think that once all three segments are published this interview will provide a pretty good primer on Phil’s thought, certainly as it stood in 1998, but you’ll need to take a tour of his site to get the full flavour. Phil recommends articles on Post-Structuralism & Modern Magic, Invokation of Babalon – a sex-magic diary snippet, Dream gates: the Yuggoth working, and The Ganas: Hooligans of Heaven. I’d recommend An Introduction to Banishing Rituals, Devotions & Demonesses – Introductory essay on Tantric Magic, and Problems in Group Ritual.
As this file is unlikely to excite the interest of the leach sites I have left this one uncompressed. Please don’t play the file from the browser or it will probably bring my site down; instead right click (or control-click on the Mac) and save as.
Interview with Phil Hine, 11th June 1998. Part one.
25Mb. 18 minutes. 192K mp3.
Left over
K-Punk:
To be humiliated is always to be ritually humiliated, as we can scarcely fail to be aware in the era of Abu Ghraib… Simultaneously, however, we must recall that Abu Ghraib was already, in itself, a deranged piece of performance art. Mark, brilliant as ever, on Paul Mccarthy’s La La Land. Performance art yes, but don’t forget Burroghs’ definition of art: that which is left after the magic. Abu Ghraib is ritual humiliation: a US military magic ritual.