Gentleman's Dub Club

Gentleman's Dub Club's range is really diverse - from totally chilled dub to some frantic wobbly-bassed skatting. They're also phenomenal live, so definitely catch them if you can. Their recorded stuff is ace but I reckon they've got to be experienced in the skankin', hot-steppin' flesh.

Crank the bass on this chiller:


And here 's GDC giving the MC P Money an instrumental canvas:


They've got a new release - 'Open Your Eyes EP' - out on 12th March so get on it!

-L

Osier Bed - Demo (2011)

This local, catchy, noodley, and not cheesy *gasp* emo/pop-punk outfit are top shelf. Straightforward songs with good melodies, screamy but tasteful vocals and lyrics filled with Twin Peaks references. Can't go wrong. I've had this demo tape running in my car going on 3 weeks now so definitely check this one out. If it's a little sloppy for your taste, they've tightened up their act and plan on recording more soon. I can't wait, and hopefully you'll all get pumped too.

Download It (legally!): http://osierbed.bandcamp.com/

Buy It: Contact them! They're nice guys.

-A

Sheba Baby/Cool Breeze OST - Monk Higgins & Solomon Burke (1972/1975)

He hit

the Man

for $3 million.

Right where

it hurts.

In the diamonds.

And baby, that's cold.

best find in ages. two blaxploitation flicks, two soundtracks brimming with dirty gems.

1. Monk Higgins - Sheba Baby (1975)

16 tracks of effortless cool and technical perfection, advertised as hotter'n "coffy" ... meaner'n "foxy brown."

2. Solomon Burke - Cool Breeze (1972)

blam blam

right in the diamonds

right where it hurts.

soak it in

p

Flying Lotus - Zodiac Shit / Kill Your Co-Workers

If you don't know Flying Lotus: get back in your fucking basement grief-hole. (Or read this).
Oh how we laugh. Anyway, he's got a habit of having ace animation accompanying his tunes. Take a look at these, preferably while listening at the same time, if your brain can handle it all:





-L

Neil Cowley Trio - The Face of Mount Molehill (2012)

I hadn't heard of Neil Cowley Trio until the other week - so massive thanks to my pal Ben for putting me onto these guys - really beautiful stuff.

So it turns out they've got a new album out (Jazzmann Review)! But first, here's an awesome track off their 2008 album 'Loud... Louder... Stop!' to get you in the mood...

I really love this tune. 'Clumsy Couple' is a totally chilled, flowing, piano-driven track with a river of jazz bursting beneath it and just perfectly executed. The melodies are beautiful and the powerful drums towards the end stop just short of exploding but are amazingly expressive. Needless to say the keys and the bass are just sweetness.

Neil Cowley Trio - you're awesome!



So - their new album is just out: The Face of Mount Molehill (2012). Here's a great tune from it - 'Rooster was a Witness'. Expansive soundscapes with jaunty but meandering melodies. It's the same core instrumentation plus strings weaving the fabric of this tune; pretty diverse styles across the album (from what I've heard so far):



Oh yeh - and if you're in the UK, they're touring in March and April - so go and see 'em! Check their website for more details.

-L

Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble: Japanese Dub (2010)

I saw Jah Wobble's collaboration project "Jah Wobble and the Nippon Dub Ensemble" while hungover, lying on warm dry grass underneath a baking sun at Glastonbury Festival last year.
So now I associate it with lazy late-afternoon Summer vibes. You don't have to.

Heavy bass and Japanese instrumentation with pretty chilled simple arrangements and some lovely sounds. JW's myspace page gives some compelling insight:
"The background to Japanese Dub is best explained by Wobble himself: ‘For some time I've fancied having a crack at merging Japanese music with dub." Profound.

Give it a listen:


-L

Ramsey Lewis - Wade in the Water (1966)

Big props to Nick* for sending this one my way. Why didn't I already know this tune?!

Here's a pure vibesing jazz instrumental from 1966 by the Ramsey Lewis trio. The tune is a recasting of a traditional ballad - Wade in the Water. This version's just chills.



*Nick "Uncle" Kelly. If he was on twitter I'd be linking him up right about now... Expect some guest blogs from Nick soon with more of these pure chill vibes.
-L

William Bell - I Forgot to be Your Lover (1968)

Some Valentines Day chills here from the American songwriter and soul singer William Bell.



Aside from this song being an absolute heart-break classic, it has been both covered & sampled on numerous occasions often to hilarious effect.

A lot of people will recognize the hook from the Dilated Peoples 2001 track 'Worst to Worst' however the most mind blowing interpretation of William Bell's undoubted genius comes courtesy of Billy Idol (I prefer William Michael Albert Broad) and his horrorshow 1980s offering 'To Be a Lover'...



-AL

D. Vassalotti - Book of Ghosts (2011)

D. Vassalotti's Book of Ghosts LP is some of the best straightforward pop I've heard in quite a while. Don't let the fuzzed out noise aesthetic convince you otherwise, this record is filled to the brim with killer guitar hooks and fun riffage from start to finish. There are even some borderline shoegazy moments for the 90's revivalists. This is what got me hooked:

http://www.mediafire.com/?l2krnm7lqtbp55o

Happy listening.

-A

Ciccone Youth - Into the Groovey (1986)

After Madge's much hyped SuperBowl appearance at the weekend, I thought I'd post this spectacularly detached cover from Sonic Youth & Mike Watts' great 1980s side project Ciccone Youth.

Sonic Youth were apparently fixated with the pop queen and used to play a distorted version of the original Madge track through an amp between songs during live sets - over time it morphed into this dark and ominous tribute that somehow manages to play out at the same tempo as the original, fusing Thurston's dispassionate and lazy delivery with unauthorized samples of the original upbeat disco classic.

The track comes from 'The Whitey Album' which consists of a bunch of ridiculous experimental tracks and blasé covers including Robert Palmer’s 'Addicted to Love', and another Madge tribute 'Burnin’ Up'.

enjoy...




-AL
[L: Allow me to introduce Adam (AL) as a new guest blogger! We may also be soon seeing Alex (AM) doing some guest blogs - so keep any eye out! Too many A's....]

M.I.A. - Bad Girls (2012)

the new MIA video kicking up dust (oh, puns) in Saudi is an ankle-deep statement on women's rights, great track and, if anything, a visually stunning middle finger to the man. orientalist? i'll leave that for the pundits to decide.



p

Fantasmes - Redgold/Sidetracked (2010)

Fantasmes is summery psychedelic hipster-shoegaze (but it's well done). as far as i can tell, these puerto ricans are still completely unknown. the album is self-produced/recorded and released by NY's Last Bummer Records.

def check 'Redgold'

p

Arthur Verocai - Na Boca do Sol (1972)

10,000 pageviews!! let's celebrate with some sexy brazilian psych-funkkk

p