Bon Iver and La Blogotheque

Hello there people, today I'd like to talk to you about two wonderful things. They are the fantastic album For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver and the splendid website La Blogotheque.

Bon Iver's debut LP is a mesmerising, deep record which gets better with every listen and is essential for every Elliott Smith/Jeff Buckley fan. He recorded it in a mountain shack in the depth of the American winter, only pausing to chop up fire wood or hunt for deer to eat. It was put together on very simple equipment but the end result is stunning as Mr Iver (aka Justin Vernon) meticulously layered up vocal and guitar parts to create a very rich sound. It also helps that he is blessed with a voice that would reduce practically anyone on the planet into a quivering, sobbing wreck.

La Blogotheque, meanwhile, is a French website which posts up beautifully shot video clips of all your favourite bands playing impromptu street gigs on swish Parisian back roads. It is one of those sites that make you fall to your knees and exclaim: God bless the internet.

I've been meaning to write something about both these things for some time now so when La Blogotheque recently posted some Bon Iver clips I was spurred into action.

Here's Lump Sum:


Check out the full show at La Blogotheque

Download Bon Iver's Skinny Love

The above polaroid of Bon Iver was snapped by Alex at his London show at St Giles church recently.

Ally

Sonny J

Thanks to everyone who came down to our club night last Friday. Everything went well except for some over zealous security staff who thought it was appropriate to call the police after someone had tested a pen on the side of a construction site.

One of the songs i was most looking forward to playing was Sonny J's edit of an old Donna Hightower song 'Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)'. I haven't got a copy of the album yet but this guy seems set to tear up this summer. For some unknown reason, i didn't play the record in all the confusion so i'll just have to play it here instead.

Sonny J - Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand)

And while i'm at it, here's another one.

Sonny J - Enfant Terrible

Buy music from Sonny J at Rough Trade here.

Alex

Lost Classics - The UMC's

The UMC's are a bit of an enigma. Not quite Native Tongues, not quite Daisy Age and, hailing from Staten Island, always playing second fiddle to their neighbourhood peers. Some heads out there will probably know 'One To Grow On' or maybe 'Blue Cheese' but if you should dig out a copy of their album 'Fruits of Nature' as i did from ebay recently, you'll find an album that plays like the hip-hop classic album you've never heard. Somewhere between 'Midnight Marauders' and Slick Rick's 'The Great Adventures Of...', why the hell didn't i find it 15 years ago?

Check out this track, definitely getting a spin at the next Beat Poetry night on the 13th June.

The UMC's - Never Never Land

Alex

The greatest rapper alive - Saul Williams

Saul Williams is far and away my favourite rap artist and is one of the most electrifying live performers I've ever witnessed with my own eyes. There really is no one else like him around today. He is in equal part Gil Scott-Heron, Jimi Hendrix and Chuck D. In many ways, he is the nearest thing to an actual beat poet that I will probably ever write about here.

His new album Niggy Tardust is produced by Nine Inch Nails's Trent Reznor and as a result is an industrial affair, but here I have made available two tracks of Saul spitting over classic hip-hop beats - Damian Marley's Welcome To Jamrock and Nas's Made You Look. Enjoy.

Welcome To Jamrock - Saul Williams
Made You Look - Saul Williams

You can catch Saul Williams support Jay-Z at Hyde Park on 3 July. Tickets

Ally

Record Kicks

There are some great labels out there that put out classic and new funk and soul on exclusive vinyl-only releases. I'm talking Daptone, Freestyle, Jazzman and the like. To people who collect this sort of stuff these names will be familiar but i'm sure to a lot of people they aren't. One label i'm really starting to like is Record Kicks. Their release of The New Mastersound's 'Drop It Down' made it on to our April Mix (see previous post) and here are two more great funk/soul slices that make a lot of the anodyne neo-soul sound like teenage karaoke.

The first is an uplifting, soulful number from Floyd Lawson and the Hearts of Stone. Their album 'Coming Out' is being reissued now after being something of a lost masterpiece for many years.



Download: Floyd Lawson and the Hearts of Stone - Air I Breathe

The second is a cover of the Arctics' 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' from Baby Charles and, although on difficult cover territory, i think the moody funk makeover works quite nicely.



Download: Baby Charles - I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor

Buy Music on Record Kicks from Phonica here.

Alex

Brand New Second Hand

If you are under 20 and your first port of call for new music is the Jo Wiley show, then you'd be forgiven for thinking that Radio 1 invented the cover version. FYI: This is not the case, and no it wasn't Mark Ronson either. The art of reinterpreting someone else's song is as old as popular music itself. From soul to reggae, punk to dance, there are thousands of cover version gems which faithfully copy, reimagine, twist or royally fuck up some of your favourite tracks. There is no formula for what makes a good cover and sometimes the worst ones end up being the best. We are planning to run a regular feature where we post some of our favourite covers, so to whet your appetite here are three stone cold classics.

St Etienne's proto-trip-hop take on Neil Young's Only Love Can Break Your Heart.

Buy it at Rough Trade

The Black Keys' version of Have Love Will Travel by 1960s cult heroes The Sonics.

Buy it at Rough Trade

And the KLF's What Time Is Love given a post-millennium refix by dance music misfit Max Tundra.

Download music by Max Tundra at Juno

Ha, only just noticed they all have love in the title. What a happy coincidence. Ally

Vinyl and Pilooski

Have jack to jack cable, have Audacity programme, will convert vinyl nuggets into digital bleeps. I know i'm way behind the times but i'm pretty excited about being able to get some of the records that i love that i only own on vinyl (often only way they exist) into my ipod earphones and onto this page.

The reason is records like Pilooski's recent vinyl-only, one-sided 7" called WCTBL. It's more chopped up and bass heavy than his usual style but i have to admit that i like pretty much everything he and the Dirty Sound System people release (with the exception of their version of Prince's 1999).



Download: PSKI - WCTBL

Yep, i got tired of 'Beggin' after a while too but The Pointer Sisters edit and this one below show that he's no one-trick pony.



Download: The Human Beinz (Pilooski Re-edit) - Nobody But Me

Buy music from Pilooski Rough Trade here.

Alex