DJ History Podcast #121

Hello hello I'm back again. Loads of oldies on the show today primarily because I got sent a pair of really nice compilations: Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love (a Mo West comp) and True Soul: Deep Sounds From The Left Of Stax. I've played a few of my personal favourites, but there were also some others that I didn't know prior to getting sent the albums, including a really good Frankie Valli song. He really is a mine of hidden gems. 


I'm sure you will also have been taking note of how nicely the Grimsby Town squad is shaping up so far pre-season, too. I bet you're as excited as I am over the signings of Liam Hearn, Shaun Pearson and Anthony Church. Rooney who?

CHIP WICKHAM - Apache (Lovemonk)

TRY TO FIND ME - Needs Ending (Golf Channel)

FRANKIE VALLI & THE FOUR SEASONS – You're A Song That I Can't Sing (Mo West/Light In The Attic)

THE RIGHT TRACK – Gotta Move With The Groove (Stax)

BLACKBEARD - Friends In Lo Places (KAT)

SUZEE IKEDA – I Can't Give Back The Love I Feel (Mo West/Light In The Attic)

HOTEL MOTEL FT. SNAX - Fall (UTS)

LEADERS – It's A Rat Race (Stax)

BLOOD ORANGE - Toshito (In Flagranti Remix) (Domino)

ODYSSEY – Our Lives Are Shaped By What We Love (Mo West/Light In The Attic)

DJ History Podcast #120

Well last week was a sad one with the news that Kenny Hawkes, an old friend, had died. We knew he'd been ill for sometime, but it's still always a shock when it happens, especially to someone so young (he was 43).  So this show was dedicated to him and we played a song he'd remixed with David Parr ages ago but never came out. I've been told by reliable sources that it will be released shortly, to coincide with Kenny's birthday in July. If you don't know it, listen to the show, it's properly amazing.

I was lucky enough to play with Kenny at both Space and Fridays R Firin', the two nights that made his name in London and the the thing I remember most (apart from his impeccable taste in music) is how fucking funny he was and just how bloody loud he had the monitors on when he was DJing. You'll be missed, mate.

DJ PHONO – La Rencontre (Dynamic)

MOUNT KIMBIE – Carbonated (Hotflush)

SOUTH WEST SEVEN – What We Do (Autodeep Mix) (Seven Music)

TEELOO – Sooo oooH (No 19 Music)

THE UNITS – Bug Boy (The Sneekers Mix) (Opilec Music)

LITTLE DRAGON – Brush The Heat (Peacefrog)

RICARDO VILLALOBOS & MAX LODERBAUER – Reannounce (ECM)

OMAR –  Gimme Sum (Rap Version) (Tru Thoughts) 

KENNY HAWKES DAVID PARR - Green Grass (Vocal Mix)

DJ History Podcast #119

There are some proper corkers on this show. I don't know if it's just me living in my own little fantasy-land out here in the burbsville, but this year has been really good for albums. There's scarcely a week passes without an album arriving that's genuinely dead good. It might only be a compilation, but more often than not, it's an original album. In the past few weeks I've had the Junior Boys album (track included on this show) and the Omar album (ditto). I do love Omar, I think he's the most seriously underrated songwriter in the UK and I'm perplexed that he's not more venerated, though very happy to see he's landed on a label that will be sympathetic and supportive of his music.

Also on this show is Edward's 'Naxa'. Now I don't normally single out things for praise too mich because it makes the rest of the music on the show sound like makeweights which is indubitably not the case. However, 'Naxa' is absolutely ace. And it uses the drum loop from Shriekback's 'My Spine Is The Bassline'. Win, win, innit?



BENOIT & SERGIO – Around The World Cover (Double Standard)
OMAR – Kiss It Right (Tru Thoughts)
EDWARD – Naxa (Merc)
IFEEL STUDIO - Morgengruss III (IFeel)
JUNIOR BOYS – The Reservoir (Domino)
CHICAGO DAMN – Let's Submerge (Merc)
LUCKY PAUL FT. MILOSH – Thought We Were Alone (Gadi Mizrahi & Eli Gold Mix) (Wolf + Lamb)
RUDY'S MIDNIGHT MACHINE – Ecstatic Love Glow (Retrofit)
LITTLE DRAGON – Crystalfilm (Peacefrog)

DJ History Podcast #118: Gil Scott Heron

We left normal transmission for a special show dedicated to the music of Gil Scott Heron last week.

I first discovered his music on a Jive Wire NME cassette (you had to save vouchers and send away for it). In fact, I discovered a lot of incredible artists on those first few NME tapes: Robert Wyatt, James Blood Ulmer, David Gamson, Ornette Coleman, King Sunny Ade, Liaisons Dangereuses... The list goes on. I bet you don't get music like that covered in the NME now. In fact, I know you don't get music like that covered in the NME now. I weep for you teenagers, with your bereft lives of instant access to all the music in the world at your fingertips in a second.

Anyhow, I digress. Gil Scott Heron. Blew me away when I heard B-Movie. I was just discovering serious black music and also training to be a Trotskyist revolutionary and Gil's music hit me right between the lugholes fair and square. He was funny, satirical, biting and - ye Gods - funky. (The Redskins did their best, God bless, but in comparison they sounded like the Black Dyke Mills Band trying to make James Brown records.)

So I went out and bought the album that contained B-Movie, Reflections, and then worked my way back through the catalogue. Amazingly, a lot of his records were available as cutouts, which presumably meant they did not sell terribly well. He was probably bigger in the UK than his home country. Bought half his catalogue at knockdown prices from Selectadisc's cutout shop.

I also went to see him play three times, the first time in Nottingham in about 1982 (promoting Moving Target). I think it was at the Marcus Garvey Centre, but it could equally have been in Rock City. Anyone remember? Anyhow. Brilliant. Just brilliant. Like a funky Michael Moore (it takes a lot of squinting to imagine that). Great band, amazing songs, switching from the ballads to the funk and never forgetting the talking in between the songs, which was almost as entertaining as the music itself. I saw him twice more subsequently, the last time at the Jazz Cafe in about 1994 and the gigs got progressively worse. The last one was a bit of shocker, although mildly amusing for the presence of Jay Kay from Jamiroquai prancing up and down like a pixie with a pencil stuck up its arse. Gil was terrible. He hadn't made a good record - or ANY record - for a long time and he was a bit of a state.

I was made up when he made his comeback last year. Personally, I thought the album was a bit overhyped and overrated, but I was so pleased he was at least making music and being creative again. So it's such a damn shame that he's gone, thought that's what happens when you get involved in all that shit, innit, Gil?

You were great and we loved you. And your demons showed you were human. And your dad played for Kidderminster Harriers. How fucking cool is that?

Tracklisting:

GIL SCOTT-HERON – B Movie
GIL SCOTT-HERON – Fast Lane
GIL SCOTT-HERON – Home Is Where The Hatred Is
GIL SCOTT-HERON – Lady Day & John Coltrane
GIL SCOTT-HERON – The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
GIL SCOTT-HERON – 1980
GIL SCOTT-HERON – Your Daddy Loves You
GIL SCOTT-HERON – Johannesburg

DJ History Podcast #117

Fantastic weekend, just gone. Not just because of the bank holiday (though obviously that helps), but we went to our friend Sam & Rui's wedding which was on a campsite just on the edge of the New Forest. Everyone should get married on a campsite. It's so much more fun than a church (but then, frankly, what isn't?) Hog roasts, kids running wild in a Lord of the Rings style (one of them ended up with a broken wrist, falling out of a tree). Adventures, adventures. It was great.

As is this week's show. I know I always say that but it's darn well true.

Tracklisting:
PATTI JO - Ain't No Love Lost (Leftside Wobble Edit)
OMEGAMAN – Skankin Riddim (AGFA Remix) (Super Hi Fi)
WILD BEASTS - Reach A Bit Further (Domino)
CRYSTAL FIGHTERS – Plage (Compuphonic Remix) (WOS)
PENGUIN PRISON – Mulit Millionaire (Neville Watson Remix) (WOS)
BRIAN ENO – Imagine New Times (Warp)
BLACK DEVIL DISCO CLUB FT. NANCY SINATRA – To Ardent (Grovesnor Remix)
DEGO FT. OBENEWA – Love & Hate You (2000 Black)
TENSNAKE – Something About You (Mirau)