2003 best of part three

Books

I didn’t read nearly as much as I wanted to last year.

1. Iain Sinclair – London Orbital. (courtesy my Mum)
Apparently he was on The Today Programme yesterday discussing the widening of the M25 and was admirably bonkers – talking about collective hallucinations and how the widening of the M25 would just lead to orbitals around orbitals. The way to break this cycle of road making madness? “Everyone will have to learn to walk”.

2. Luther Blissett – Q. (courtesy Luther and Random House)
Blurb. Download.

3. Jonthan Franzen – The Corrections. (courtesy of the better half)
Thought it was pretty damn fine, but then I hardly ever read fiction.

4. Beth Lesser – King Jammys. (courtesy my sister)

5. David Keenan – England’s Hidden Reverse. (courtesy Dubversion)
Waffle.

6. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke – Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. (courtesy Hackney Libraries)
Waffle.

7. Richard Gombin – The Origins of Modern Leftism.
Pretty good skinny Pelican job, on the situationists, council communists, Socialism or Barbarism etc. Translated from da french innit. Download.

8. Stewart Home – Defiant Pose.
One of his early pulp polymorphously-perverse-anarcho-skinhead “he fell backwards spitting out gouts of blood and the occasional tooth” jobs, which originally cost a packet cos it was a hardback but I got it for a fiver at the anarchist bookfair off Haven Distribution. Anyway – it does the trick if you like that sort of stuff (and I do!) but you wouldn’t pay 12 quid for it.

9. Edward Gorey – The Object Lesson.
Surreal dark cartoons (courtesy of Andy & Thea)

=10. Fred and Judy Vermorel – Sex Pistols
=10. Jon Savage – England’s Dreaming (courtesy Hackney Libraries)

Zines/other texts:

1. Howard Slater – Lotta Continua: Roots Music and the Politics of Production

2. Datacide issue 8

3. Melancholic Troglodytes – Uncle Louis, his Fruits and Vegetables: A Proletarian Critique of the Nation of Islam

4. RPM – The Rich at Play: Fox Hunting, Land Ownership and the ‘Countryside Alliance’

5. Wu-Ming Foundation – Infopool #7 pamphlet (“Why Not Show Off About The Best Things”)

6. Paul Petard – More Politics Please (ace commie cartoons)

7. Get Your War On

8. Paul Petard – Communism, Liberty & Freedom some brief notes towards a libertarian communist critique of marxism (yes it’s boring)

9. The piece in Fortean Times about Juan Posadas:

10. Humanist Philosophers’ Group – Religious Schools: the case against.
From the British Humanist Association. A bit polite and theoretical for my unrefined tastes, but an important issue for sure.

Miscellaneous other stuff to follow shortly…

best of 2003 part two

LPs

1. The Bug – Pressure (Rephlex)
Head and shoulders above everything else in 2003. This is what got me excited. (courtesy Marcus @ Rephlex)

2. V/a – Winston Riley Productions: Dancehall Techniques 1986-1991 (Maximum Pressure).
Excellent collection of early digi stuff. I need to get the other sets on this label badly!

3. Four Tet – Rounds (Domino)
On a lot of people’s lists, this one. Chuffed to get this for my birthday. (courtesy of Giles)

4. DJ Scud – Ambush! (Rephlex)
A great compilation of earlier stuff and therefore your way in as a novice. See also my DJ Scud Top Ten. (courtesy Marcus @ Rephlex)

5. Wasteland – Amen Fire (Transparent)
I always seem to end up playing this back to back with the Four Tet LP – Scud and I-Sound work together on some atmospheric abstract tracks – great to seem the refusing to be constrained by the breakcore genre – this is really good listening music and has transformed some of my commutes this year. Another winner from Transparent. One to watch. (courtesy Jason Aphasic)

6. Nocturnal Emissions – Collateral Salvage (Soleilmoon)
Wicked downbeat business which manages to successfully mix up breakbeats, indie jangly guitars, tablas, mbiras, you name it, without sounding like yer usual “worthy” world music. Exactly the sort of thing which should be on at the Big Chill festivals, in fact. I keep going back to this one. Lovely. (courtesy Nigel Noccie)

7. Augustus Pablo – In Fine Style (Pressure Sounds)
Lovely reissue of impossibly rare 45s with ’nuff version excursion and 12″ mixes (courtesy Lisa)

8. V/a – Godspunk (Pumf)
A great DIY release on an unerringly eccentric label. Loving the tracks from LDB – deadpan english whiteboy hip hop which isn’t trying to emulate anything else – i.e. it’s honest and not pretentious which is the whole point. Best title: “Ode To Some People That No Fucker Has Ever Heard Of”. Howl In The Typewriter come up trumps with some punky electronic harmonic supersonic biz. Also some droney stuff and UNIT in abrasive form (regrettably not the best from them as they readily admit). Great full colour packaging – support! (courtesy of Andy @ UNIT)

I don’t have the Rhythm & Sound/Burial Mix “With The Artists” album but the singles I have off it are excellent, so that goes in by default, despite being very much associated with 2002 in my mind.

So that’s not even 10. Mind you, I think the last time I actually bought 10 new albums a year was probably when I was a teenager. These days I’m lucky if I get the chance to listen to one album all the way through in one go. Those top ten lists that Matt does so well really freak me out because of the sheer volume of music they imply – I mean: 10 hours of music!

2003 reading to follow…

2003 best of part one

OK, here we go, against my better judgement…

I was skint and sleepless throughout 2003 so these lists are going to be a bit unrepresentative. Hardly bought anything myself this year and relied on blagging and the kindness of friends and relatives \’96 so this is also an opportunity to say “thank you” to them.

Singles (chart)

Needless to say, I didn’t buy any of these except “Like Glue”. A good year for tweaky electronic pop, though, and the man Sean Paul surely gets some sort of prize for consistency and “representing”.

1. Blu Cantrell feat Sean Paul – Breathe
2. Sean Paul – Like Glue
3. Sean Paul – Gimme The Light
4. Beyonce & Sean Paul – Baby Boy
5. Lumidee – Uh Oh
6. Sugababes – Hole in the Head
7. Rachel Stevens – Sweet Dreams My LA Ex
8. R. Kelly – Ignition (Remix)
9. Electric Six – Danger High Voltage
=10. Jamelia – Superstar
=10. Kylie – Slow

Singles (breakcore mash up)

A great year for this stuff as well, but I worry about 2004 being the time it becomes a little bit generic. Who will stay ahead of the game?

=1. LFO.Demon – Rave for Communism 7″ (Sprengstoff) “hey big spender… put the poor people on your agenda” this rules!

=1. Aphasic – Yeah Yeah Yeah Whatever 12″ (Junk) see comments below (courtesy Jason Aphasic)\

3. The Bug feat Cutty Ranks – Gun Disease Cdsingle (Rephlex) do-over of “Gun Man Lyrics” which is on the Dancehall Techniques LP (courtesy Marcus @ Rephlex)

4. Leyton Breakers – I Drink Your Blood 12″ (Still Raven) “The strange thing for me is that I have never been to Hackney… I hope to God there isn’t a rave…” Retro hardcore massif!

5. Killahman Machine – Amen/Lighta 7″ (Clash) mashed madness from Bong Ra off-shoot.

6. The Bug vs The Rootsman featuring Wayne Lonesome – Slew Dem 7″ (Razor X) A proper seven. There needs to be more ‘version’ sides in this genre. (courtesy Kevin)

7. V/a – Speedhall 12″ (Koolpop) Loony distorted ragga biz including Snow’s ‘Informer’. Also a salutary warning against sampling stuff you know nothing about – one of the tracks is called ‘Battybwoy’ and it seems that nobody involved particularly knew what this meant – assuming it was a general dis rather than homphobia. Plonkers.

8. The Bug vs The Rootsman featuring Daddy Freddy / DJ/Rupture split 12″ (Tigerbeat6) Mixed feelings about the spoken word stuff on the Rupture side but you can’2t mess with The Bug (courtesy Kevin)

9. Base Force One – Expenditure of Excess Energy 12″ (Still Raven) “a little bit… harder!” (courtesy Christoph @ Praxis)

10. Sonic Belligeranza – Straight Edge Rastafari 12″ (Sonic Belligeranza) Bolognese insanity including folk music samples (courtesy Riccardo @ SB)

Singles (reggae/JA/etc)

Hardly bought any new stuff and most of the stuff I did buy was 12 inches from the 80s. Hence impossible to keep up! (Also some confusion about what came out when – for example Diwali was clearly 2002 despite Wayne Wonder’s smash hit this summer). It’s a mixed bag of roots and ragga, naturally.

1) Immigration riddim (Al Ta Fa An) – Bouncy, nice bass, a proper new reggae riddim which made it onto the mix CD.

Luciano – You Can Have The World
Admiral Tibet – No Fear
Anthony B & Tafari – Rise Up
Mark Wonder – Rasta

2) Tai Chi riddim – future style from early in the year – nice oriental touches and great cuts from TOK, Sean Paul and Tanya Stephens.

3) Coolie Dance riddim – current madness which I intend to buy at the earliest opportunity.

4) McKay – Take Me Over (Go Beat) – A nice do-over of ‘Double Barrel’ by the guy from Portishead. A UK production and release, no less!

5) Ba Ba Boom riddim (Jammy$) – Nice bouncy reggae 2003 style. Came out of nowhere and then vanished.

Ward 21 – Reggae Pledge
Shocking blue – Artist War

6) Real Rock riddim (Xterminator) – funky reworking which packs a punch. Again I ain’t got this but it’s top of my wants list, especially the Tanya Stephens and Michael Rose cuts.

7) Luciano – Sweet Mama Africa (Joe Frasier) on “A Darker Shade of Black”

8) Party Time riddim – another one from earlier in the year, based on an old chart rave track I forget the name of. (Strictly tape off Rodigan… again!)

9) Roll Wid riddim (Black Scorpio) – nice downtempo/melancholic riddim with a funky tweaky guitar at the foundation and some nice stummy/plucky bits on top. Cuts by Stretch (in a more hip hop style arguing that you should watch what company you keep) and Turbulence & Higher Trod (on Selassie). Courtesy Paul Meme.

10) Jungle Rock riddim (Free Willy) – more 2003 melodic bouncy reggae business courtesy of Paul Meme.

Lukie D & Admiral Bailey – Gangsta Call
Anthony B & Norrisman – We Have To Make It
Singer J & Egg Nog & New Kids – Weed Flossing

LPs and more to come…

wine like a gypsy part deux

Further to this I was playing said track yesterday and the little one said “Oh! It’s a bit like nursery…”

My daughter’s first spot! I am so proud! (Needless to say her Mum was slightly perturbed that this fanboyish behaviour had been transmitted to the next generation, but there you are).

nwyr

I started 2004 smashed out of my brain on an unholy spectrum of alcohol, attire including a black cocktail dress, a dalmation-polkadot cowboy hat and a knight’s breastplate.

Sometime later I went to see the only white tiger in the UK.

Beat that.

truth!

Luke: 

“or Wiley talking about apathy and the loss of affect, not eating properly, letting people down, losing friends, not caring, not having the energy to even feel bad about it, no feelings… Dizzee not wanting to face life and the flipside of that, wanting to better yourself, wanting to fulfil your potential, wanting to be the best, wanting to succeed on your own terms
– to get to the top and my time will come, I ain’t bredding no one and I ain’t licking no bum…”