Ode to Croissant Neuf

2010-08-24 by The Mighty Alboy

Bon Iver- “Flume”

Myself and P Rice, accompanied by a number of friends and families, had the pleasure of attending the rather lovely Croissant Neuf festival in the lush valleys of Monmouthshire in Wales the weekend before last.

Croissant Neuf is an off-shoot of the longest running area at Glastonbury (besides the main Pyramid stage), and is a solar powered and chilled zone they have apparently been running since the 60’s. Unlike it’s mothership festival, it thrives on being small and sustainable- the organisers reckoned there were only about 1500 people there, and these of all ages and pursuasions.

Rather than getting in the big name bands to bring hordes of punters and ramp up the entry fee (eg this year’s festival was headlined by the Magic Numbers), C9 features a diverse range of sounds of generally high quality- I dont think I saw a programme as such, so no one really knew what was good and when it was playing, so instead we found ourselves pleasantly surprised to hear good music fairly regularly.

The site itself is beautifully located- there’s views across the Welsh valleys, and an Iron Age fort nearby- and because it’s so small, you cant lose your tent and you dont have to pack for the day out or trudge for half an hour to go from home to where the action is at.

Add to this a range of arts and craft type activities (I am the proud owner of a lamp I made out of twigs and some hairy string), circus types showing and sharing their skills, a nice selection of wholesome foodage and an amusingly named bar (the “Stumble Inn”) situated in an old barn selling only cider and real ale (neither of which I particularly like, mind) with real spit & sawdust on the floor, good friends and a nice break in the Welsh weather, and you’ve got a really good festival experience.

Highly recommended!

And to the ode- I was introduced to the track here by one of our campers who played it nice and loud on the last day as we were about to start packing up. It’s a bitter tune that fitted the end of a good time very nicely, lifted from an album called For emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver, who at the time the album was written, consisted of just one chap- Justin Vernon.

The album was conceived and recorded in a cabin in the mountains of Wisconsin, where Vernon had decided to isolate himself for the winter season in 2007, following a particularly difficult year where he suffered the break up of a relationship, his band and a severe bout of glandular fever:

“I left North Carolina and went up there because I didn’t know where else to go and I knew that I wanted to be alone and I knew that I wanted to be where it was cold.”

The resulting music is really achingly beautiful, featuring lots of rich guitar work, found percussion and overdubs of harmony and melody that are just stunning.

Not news to many, but news to me- thanks Rhys!

not usual fare for DC, either, but it’s so lovely I thought I would share…

Download MP3 (3:39min / 11MB)

A Rediscovered Groove

2010-08-23 by The Double K

New Grooves – 2 A.M.

This is a tune that I’ve loved for years and years but only just found out what it is. I know it intimately from an amazing Jon Da Silva tape from the Hacienda that got caned round my way back in 1992. If you’ve been keeping up with the comments on here you’ll know I recently read Peter Hook’s “The Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club”, where after all these years I finally found a track list for the tape (and also discovered that it was recorded at the Robs Records Party on Wednesday 4th March 1992). I’m currently in the process of tracking down some of the tunes that I’ve never identified up to now, and this is one of them.

It was released in 1991 on New York’s Nu Groove Records, and is one of those great tracks that sits right on the boundary of House and Techno (and in this case also Acid). After a short intro the groove builds as drums are gradullay added to the mix. Urgency is added to the already driving bassline as the awesome 303 acid line flitters in and out, and that’s about it – nothing too big or clever: just a great tune.

Download MP3 (5:30min / 13MB)

newport state of mind

2010-08-19 by The Mighty Alboy

many of you will have seen this already, but Ive only just come across it, and think it’s fantastic

Great Boo's Up

2010-08-04 by The Mighty Alboy

Boo Williams- “midnight express”

Apologies to our regular listeners for inactivity at DC- no posts here for a month, shocking indolence from me and our reduced roster of co-bloggers.

To make some small amends, here is a gem of a track from Boo Williams on the mighty Relief Records label

Born and raised on Chicago’s south side, Boo Williams’ career as DJ/producer, began back when house music was still creating an identity for itself. He was raised on a healthy diet of Larry Heard, Marshall Jefferson, Frankie Knuckles and Ron Hardy, and over the years has become part of the house music foundation himself.

This track is a long time favourite of mine and various others of the dilate posse and crew. I remember a bunch of us first hearing it on the Colin Faver show on Kiss FM in the back of our mate Rob’s car as we headed home to our communal pad in Hendon- the awesome combination of huge, loose breaks with the tight-assed swing of the drum track and crazy synth madness got us all very excited, and had us dashing out to our favourite record stores to try and find it the next day.

Still a stone cold, stand out classic to this day…

Download MP3 (7:01min / 16MB)

To the Max

2010-06-30 by The Mighty Alboy

Gil Scott Heron vs DJ Asparagus- “Your Daddy Loves You”

A further tribute to the youngest addition to Dilated Choonz, young Max Shooter- this one perhaps more up Squeaker’s alley than the ruffness from Double K…

A smooth jazz house edit of Gil Scott Heron’s your daddy loves you by Stockholm’s DJ Asparagus. In this case a moving message of love to Gil’s young daughter, but I’m sure the sentiment applies to the Max Daddy n’all

Congratulations to mother and father- and to baby Max for finding such a fine family to be born into! Love to all…

x

Download MP3 (6:22min / 15MB)

Gimme an M!

2010-06-28 by The Double K

Tom & Jerry – MAXi(mun) Style

This is a post (actually 3 posts) in our long-running occasional series of tunes dedicated to the new offspring of Dilated Choonz crew members. This time it is the fecund loins of Tommy Squeaker that we’re celebrating, as he and his good lady were recently blessed with a baby boy, Max.

Squeaker steadfastly refuses to acknowledge the superiority of Jungle over other musical forms, despite the existence of tunes like this one by Tom & Jerry (an alias used by 4 Hero from '92-'94), which literally has everything you could possibly want out of a tune: it’s got soul, it’s got funk, it’s got shouty ragga vocals, it’s got flutey bits, it’s got an enormous fat bassline, it’s got spacey ambient noises, it’s got girls singing and it’s got a variety of breakbeats. I mean, what else could you possibly need in there? What other genre gives you all that in under 5 minutes? Absolutely brilliant.

Still, despite this oversight in musical taste, Tommy Squeaker is a great man, a true gent and the best friend anyone could hope to have, so I’m sure you will want to join me in congratulating him and wishing him all the best in his new role as a dad.

Download MP3 (4:57min / 5MB)

Gimme an A!

2010-06-28 by The Double K

Ordinary People – Baby You Make My Heart Sing

Here’s a tune I’ve been meaning to post for a while now, and this seems like an opportune moment for it, due to the Oooooohoooo Baby You Know You Make My Heart Sing! vocal that probably captures pretty much how our man Squeaker feels about little Max at the moment (I’m guessing he feels it minus the pounding, tuff-as-hell garage beat in the background though!)

The main man in Ordinary People is Jason Kaye, who, like Dilated Choonz favourite Steve Gurley, made the transition from the hardcore and jungle scene into UK Garage production: he was/is part of the legendary Top Buzz crew.

Download MP3 (6:27min / 15MB)

Gimme an X!

2010-06-28 by The Double K

Space – Jupiter

And finally, something I know the Squeaker loves dearly but may not have had out in a while… something to help shattered new parents relax, and if they’re lucky it might even help send little Max off to sleep.

Space is probably the best ambient house record ever made. To listen to it is to journey across the Solar System, at times experiencing true beauty and at times being afraid, very afraid. This part of the journey – Jupiter – comes from the end of Side 1 and is a beautiful mellow section which calms the nerves following Mars, the scariest most darkside part of the LP that really gets your heart pounding. The album is a continuous mix and makes sense best in its entirety rather than on a track-by-track basis, so it was tricky to pick a single track to post. The lullaby at the end of this makes it most appropriate I think.

If you don’t know it then go and get it now. You need Space in your life.

Space is the work of Jimmy Cauty, who is most famous for being half of the KLF (Space was released on KLF Communications). Over the years he has been involved with loads of interesting & subversive music and visual arts projects too numerous to mention here – he featured in a very early incarnation of The Orb, has remixed various people as “The Scourge Of The Earth”, and one of my favourite of his recent works is a set of “Scab” stamps issued during the UK postal strikes a little while back, and which you can buy here if you have a lot of money to spare.

Download MP3 (6:35min / 9MB)

You Have - In Your Big Shorts

2010-06-24 by Hal Berstram

Frank Sidebottom – Guess Who’s Been on Match of the Day

I was devestated by the news this week that Chris Sievey, the creator of one of the greatest ever musical performers – Frank Sidebottom – had died of cancer aged only 54.

One of the first conversations I had with Alboy was discussing Frank’s set at Reading Festival 1991 which I only saw part of I am ashamed to say, but it was wonderful. And this track used to come up a lot in casual conversation.

There have been other attempts to do great music with only a Casio keyboard and a sense of humour – John Shuttleworth, my old mate Foley from school, the later work of Steve Winwood, and others. But none of them have a papier mache head so they just can’t compete.

You’ll be sorely missed, Frank.

Download MP3 (0:54min / 1MB)

Something I have been working on recently

2010-06-10 by Hal Berstram

Brother Typewriter – Hushed Tones in The Recording Industry (edit)

This is just a little thing I was working on last month with the Burning Lodge immersion composition group.

I miss the old days of 1970s vinyl when you could get albums which had one track on each side, normally about 17 or 18 minutes long. So I did an album like that.

“Hushed tones…” starts off a bit Floyd and then goes into something a bit like the 70s Tangerine Dream. When the sequencers were primitive and didn’t like to be tuned properly. And then… who the hell knows.

At some point I might post the other “side”, titled “The Great Shortage of Songs About Shop Work”. Named in honour of an in-joke too lame to explain here.

More mad stuff as it becomes available.

Download MP3 (11:50min / 14MB)