19-11 the countdown heats up

GOD SMILED – LEE PERRY vs THE MOODY BOYZ

17. Grounds For Divorce – Elbow (Geffen)
For many years I have had the greatest difficulty in describing the music of SJD or finding artists that you can say ‘it’s a bit like’, with ‘Seldom Seen Kid’ Elbow put themeselves (at least partially) in that frame.  They’ve always made a pleasing racket and Guy Garvey’s vocals and lyric writing are exemplary but they’ve never put together an album that convinced me like this one. As good as that Mercury Award winning album is (and it is), this track is by far the standout, and justifiably so. If you scoot around the internets there’s a suitably epic version of this with a full orchestra that’s also pretty tasty… but I’m trying to avoid takedown notices (tres dull). So here’s a live version from Jonathan Woss’s show, as they don’t even let you embed the official video (way to go Geffen! thats how you get people excited about music). This album was given a piss poor job in this country which ultimately means its unlikely we’ll see the band here in the near future, that simultaneously sucks and blows.
(buy) NZ
(Elbowspace)
(Elbow-web)
The right hon. Graham Reid put it nicely here.

16. Calm Down – Doctor (GPP)

(buy)

Having instituted a Vocoder ban from day one at Round Trip Mars (though SJD naturally circumnavigated that, by doing the brilliantly voice-boxed ‘Unshine’ for ‘Sideways Too’) I was never too keen on the itch that turned into a massive weeping wound, that is Autotune.  When Dave Kelly brilliantly used the effect on Beenie Man & Ms Things  ‘Dude’ over five years ago (!!) it was inspired, this past year or two it has mostly been insipid. Just about the most interesting and adventurous use I’ve heard since, was when I was obliged to acquaint myself with Ween in preparation for a Listener interview, and I was reduced to genuine, old fashioned and un-acronymed laughing out loud type behaviour by their track ‘Spiritwalker’.  Sometimes, not nearly often enough, it’s just the ticket, and this unmitigated burner from Doctor is ample proof of that. It helps that the rhythm from Cotti is a Mariana Trench deep lick of what most people will recognise as Dawn Penn’s ‘No No No/You Don’t Love Me’ that truly makes a soundsystem come alive, and start talking with its fists (dropping it at the Turnarounds 5th Birthday was a woofer-worrying highlight for me). Doctor has got his singjay style on lock, and if there was any doubt about its original potency and lyrical might, then you only need to look at the remix, which read great on paper but failed to ignite. I have a feeling this is a record that will be hard to keep out of my box, for some time to come.
(Cottispace)
(Doctorspace)

Doctor

15. Cool Out/One Ting (Dabrye Rmx) – King Midas Sound (Hyperdub)
While I have to confess that the first King Midas Sound stuff I heard, on one of the spray of compilations Soul Jazz endlessly emit, didn’t really get me going – this 12″ fried my circuits. Like most, I was initially drawn to Ghostly International’s sporadically brilliant  D’abrye, and his mix, which  by all accounts has plundered a huge chunk of a venerable Detroit record in its making (the details are out there but.. who cares?!) It’s a right slinky tune for sure, but the unassuming, almost overlooked, A-side, ‘Cool Out’  is the one that has lodged in my cranium with longetivity. The special project of Kevin ‘The Bug’ Martin and Roger Robinson, King Midas Sound is no less potent, but at the other end of the aggresso spectrum to most of the Bug gear. Kevin was saying while he was over here that he’s had resistance towards his mellower gear in the UK , that’s categorically ludicrous given the strength of this slow-burner and ‘Flying’ (b-side of the ‘Ganja’ single on Ninja Tune). Not all tunes have to explode, to show their firepower.

(buy)

(KingMidassoundspace)


ONE TING (DABRYE RMX) – KING MIDAS SOUND

14. Tic Toc – Busy Signal (SSMG)
As commercial as a $100 note, this sino-electro-bashment boomtune, should have elevated Busy to a level more befitting his astronomical talents. The 27 year old producer  Shawn Scott of SSMG just seems to have some real chemistry with Snr Signal, and we aint done with that pairing in this countdown of cruciality yet!  Their combination on this is something special, like paw paw juice and Grey Goose and it will forever remind me of Rarotonga, The Beyond The Reef radio show and the Cook Island’s own DJ Tic Toc…yes indeed.

(buy)
(Busyspace)

13. Converted – Cosmo Vitelli (I’m A Cliche)

With a long (and strong) career that I first became aware of with the jazzoid tickler  ‘We Dont Need No Smurf Here’ over a decade ago, Cosmo Vitelli is one of those guys who just pops up in the right place. Last year was a bumper for his superbly named  I’m A Cliche records and this track was the pinnacle, straddling styles and letting off just the right amount of gentle doof and sly skank.  I know there’s a Bot’Ox album just around the corner, but I hope Mnsr Vitelli doesn’t neglect his own releases, I could live with a lot more gear like this …. and the A side is none too shabby either.

(buy)
(Cosmospace)
(I’m A Clichespace)

CONVERTED – COSMO VITELLI

12. Birds Of Prey – Architeq (Tirk)
An awful lot of wonky hoo-ha passed under the bridge in ’08 and while the Flying Lotuses and Hudson Mohawks of the world copped all the attention, Sam Annand from East Fife (north of the border) probably provided my most enjoyed and played, distressed hiphopular excursion. Big points go for utilising different sounds and not following the herd, and there’s a healthy vein of dubwise doodackery running through Architeq’s material that demands expansion. All of the 4 tracks on this EP rep themselves exceptionally well, and had this been on a trendier label I’m pretty convinced it would have made a much big splash. Whatever.. it’s a fine addition to the Tirk family, and will soon be joined by a remix EP that looks pretty compelling too. Architeq is definitely a name to keep an eye on in ’09, and Tirk have a new compilation  and  other stuff on the horizon that all looks well enticing. Keep it ornithological…..
(buy)
(Architeqspace)
(Tirkspace)

Architeq at one with his machines.


BIRDS OF PREY – ARCHITEQ

11. Truckers Delight – Flairs (RoXour)
(buy)
(Flairsspace)
The other side of this 12″, ‘Better Than Prince’ is far better known (and even copped very late vid play on C4), but it doesn’t do a thing for me. Through my cynicalovision it’s just more late 00’s irony wrapped up in a greasy skin of overused 80’s references, whereas this track has got something all of its own going on. First up there’s the brilliant bassline, the sort of audio anaconda that demands the whole song be written around its peaks and troughs. Everything else fits in untypically and excellently, finding room for a couple of diversions before it builds to a climax that leaves you wanting just a bit more, and if you’re anything like me slipping the needle back on for a repeat dose. There is something (fiscally foolish?!) special and downright satisfying about buying a 12″ for just one track, and really not giving a toss about whatever else is on there. At the very least it’s a confirmation that maturity, a mortgage and good sense arent getting in the way of the primal pursuit of exceptional vinyl, above all else. Lionel Flairs has ‘sweaty armpits, muddy trench geezer’ as his myspace motto and the pictures to prove it,  if he was using that perpiratory pressure for more instrumental incandescence he’d be getting my vote every time, but I suspect this may be a glorious one off.

TRUCKERS DELIGHT – FLAIRS

There will be no Stinky Grooves playlist up tonight as there will be no Stinky Grooves (record company hat on tonight). Instead we’ll get a little post up about this weekend’s Cuba Street Carnival in the next  day or two, because I’m unashamedly excited about riding them scoop bins with the Mighty Asterix…ooh wee!