For Weesacks...

Track : TECHNASIA - "EVERGREEN (JOHN TEJADA REMIX)"

It was Weesacks on the forum who gave me the heads up on this track. I had never heard it before nor even heard of Technasia, but I'd worked with Weesacks for the best part of 7 years and over that time he has introduced my ears to some high calibre pieces of dance music by people like Jori Hulkkonen, Circulation and The Timewriter, so I knew it would be something good.

He didn't disappoint.

After seeking it out, I had the trouble of deciding what version of "Evergreen" to post about... You see, there are 4 variations of the track on the 12" and there are a couple of reworkings of it on their "Recreations" remix album - one by themselves and the other by the well known american techno producer, John Tejada.

I was spoiled for choice. Part 4 of the 12" version has a song working it's way through it all, Technasia's own remix of it on "Recreations" removed the song and turned it into a blistering hard track but it was Tejada with his Detroit Techno stylings that won me over in the end.

Tejada tightens the track up and retains the vocal, but holds back on the song until about 3/4 of the way through. This gives him time to work his magic in creating a mighty fine track that just oozes that spacey, future funk, Detroit goodness. The original is reworked into new rhythmical patterns and hooks that chug away over the top of some great beats and hi-hats that hiss and twist all over the place. It's all good stuff.

Anyway Weesacks, this is probably not the version you intended, but I hope you like it. Get it on your iPod and if the Slam Tent at T In The Park lets you down, I bet this will soon sort you out. Have a good one when it comes.

Go Visit : Technasia

Go Buy : Technasia - Recreations (actually, it looks like this one is very hard to come by... Probably best sniffing around ebay for a copy or keeping your eyes peeled in your local record store...)

Feel free to leave a comment about this track in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.

Turntablist : One who uses the phonograph turntable as a component to make music as well as an instrument to literally play music.

The first music that probably caught my attention as a kid was Hip Hop. It'll always be my first love, but like most love affairs it has it's ups and downs. On one hand it has opened my mind with it's own wild eclecticism and introduced me to so many different genres of music and on the other hand, mostly with current mainstream Hip Hop, it has driven me mad by the sheer laziness and boredom of it all.

This post is not about dull rhymes over dull beats, none of the tracks below feature rappers. This post is about the inventiveness of Hip Hop. This post is about adventures on the wheels of steel. This post is about celebrating the skills of the DJ.

Back in '95 a landmark album was released on Bomb Hip Hop records entitled "Return Of The DJ - Volume 1". It was a landmark because it was the first full length album of strictly Turtablism to be released and it blew the door wide open for the return of the Hip Hop DJ. It featured names and talents that would go on to be some of the scenes leading lights. Mix Master Mike, Cut Chemist, Rob Swift, DJ Babu and The Invisibl Skratch Piklz all made appearances on there.

It was a few years later when San Francisco's Om Records, following the scene, started to put out their "Deep Concentration" series of albums. It was a series that would feature most of the guys mentioned above, introduce some up and coming DJ's and crews (Scratch Perverts, Radar, The X-ecutioners, The Beat Junkies) and resurrect some of the old skool guys like Cash Money and Prince Paul.

The tracks below are from that series of albums.

I could easily have picked out tracks that just showcased some of the crews skills, as some of the albums feature some competition winning performances. But I wanted to pick out some tracks by lesser known DJ's, tracks that had some sort of form and production to them and not just the sound of 3 or so guys just on decks trying to create beats and rhythms and outdo one another.

Track : INGRID DE LAMBRE / EDDIE DEF - "POEISIES, SCENE 1 LE BLUES"

This is rather special. The original version of "Poeisies" appeared out of Paris as an early release on the Yellow Productions label and became a much sought after piece of vinyl. It was purely an instrumental record that sounded like DJ Shadow jamming with St Germain - and it has some rather cool drum and bass remixes on the flip of the 12" too.... Here, this jazzy, fender rhodes driven cut is given the once over by the Bay Area's Eddie Def. Recorded live, his scratching never becomes too intrusive over the laid back backing. But the patterns he freestyles over the top are astounding.

(taken from "Deep Concentration")

Track : SOLE & JC - "WHAT IT IS"

Influenced by that story telling section within the seminal
"Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel", Sole & JC doff their caps to the Grandmaster and go off on a mini adventure of their own. Beats and sound effects are scratched, stopped, started, spun backwards. sped up and slowed down over another great and catchy jazzy riff whilst a female compliments it all narrating some sort of take on "Alice In Wonderland".

(taken from "Deeper Concentration")

Track : MING & FS - "THE HUMAN CONDITION"

Ming & FS are a couple of DJ's from NYC who describe their style as "junkyard". Anything goes. This six and a half minute track journeys from jazzy hip hop beats to old skool electro whilst going off on a detour via some heavy drum and bass. Its topped with loads of scratching and spoken samples - seemingly from an alien point of view trying to work out humans.

(taken from "Deep Concentration 3")

Go Visit : The History Of Turntablism

Go Buy : Various Artists - Deep Concentration
Go Buy : Various Artists - Deeper Concentration
Go Buy : Various Artists - Deep Concentration 3

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie

Flashbaxx...

I've never been to the Glastonbury Festival, so my exposure to it over the years has always been via the radio and television.

Normally Glasto weekend is set aside and I become the ultimate couch potato flipping between the radio and the BBC coverage. Its always thrown up some great musical highlights for me, Underworld's 20 minute rollercoaster performance of "Born Slippy" from many years ago and Moloko's mental take on "Sing It Back" from a couple of years ago - complete with Roisin Murphy dressed in a superman style cape - being 2 such genuine musical wonders.

Alas, this year I was in Orkney and didn't get much of a chance to see or hear anything. Last night was the only chance to see any of it and other than the clips of highlights from many of the acts sets, the only band I got to see most of were the Basement Jaxx.

Last years set by them was great, but this one cranked it up several notches.

The thing I love about Basement Jaxx is that they always adapt and are constantly keeping their fingers on the pulse. The best moments of their sets is the sense of spontaneity when it's just Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe going crazy with decks and effects. They mash up and incorporate all sorts of genres and well known songs whilst the singers are off stage getting changed. Last night's rework of Motorhead's "Ace Of Spades" with Lil Louis' "Blackout" was one such highlight. Other highlights were provided by the cover version of Gwen Stefani's current single and the Carnival style finale with them performing a brief latin american cover of Nitro Deluxe's early house hit, "This Brutal House". It was so good Senor Coconut would be proud!

I've been a fan of the Basement Jaxx for nearly 10 years now. From the moment I heard "Flylife", I was hooked. So when I got up this morning I dug out some of my old Basement Jaxx 12"'s and gave them another listen. So, I have picked out 2 of my favourite old Jaxx classics for you...

Track : BASEMENT JAXX - "GET DOWN GET HORNY"

This one had passed me by when it was released as part of their "Sleazycheeks EP" back in 1996. It wasn't until a good few years later that I was blown away by this track when it appeared as part of Derrick May's "Mayday Mix" (I highly recommend it - a breakneck and blistering mix by one of the original Detroit Techno innnovators).

"Get Down Get Horny" wasn't the main track on the EP, it was hiding on the B-side from "Eu Nao" alongside their Ibizan chill out classic, "Stanley". The track starts off simply enough with just a beat and a tiny bit of Corrina Joseph's vocal, but no sooner has it started, it breaks down... Then after a firework sound effect explodes it all kicks off with the beats and some great and dirty funky drums, basslines, plenty of squeeling keyboard noises and some great chimes and strings. It's a hidden gem in the Basement Jaxx back catalogue.

Track : CORRINA JOSEPH - "LONELY"

As much as I love them, the recent Basement Jaxx albums, for me, have been a bit hit and miss. Don't get me wrong, I think they are a great singles band and I recommend their recent CD which rounds up these, but there is one album of theirs that I'd recommend over all their albums and that would be "Atlantic Jaxx".

"Atlantic Jaxx - A Compilation" was an early release compiling the best of their output from their own Atlantic Jaxx record label. You have all the early Basement Jaxx classics on there, like "Flylife", "Samba Magic" and their well known latin house classic "Belo Horizonti" under their guise, The Heartists. But the highlights on the album were the work they produced for artists like Ronnie Richards and Corrina Joseph - who appears on the album with 2 tracks, "Live Your Life With Me" and the track above, "Lonely".

Don't be fooled by the atmospheric start to "Lonely" with Corrina's heartfelt vocals. This track soon blasts out the speakers with broken beats (pre-dating that scene by a good 3 to 4 years) and some killer sub-bass. Even though the song seems at odds with the wild backing, they both compliment each other beautifully. And just listen to that dense Jaxx production. Excellent stuff.

Go Visit : Basement Jaxx

Go Buy : Atlantic Jaxx Recordings - A Compilation
Go Buy : Basement Jaxx - The Singles

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie

#2 in an occasional series...

#1 was St3pan0va's dub remake of New Order's "Blue Monday" - and it can still be found HERE.

#2 is...

Track : SOUNDHOG - "A DAY IN TRACY'S LIFE"

One of my all time favourite bootlegs. I'm a big fan of the Welsh wonderkid that is Soundhog and seeing as he doesn't have any of his classic old bootlegs up on his site, I thought I'd give my favourite one of his a long overdue airing.

Kid Loco's dreamy remix of Mogwai's "Tracy" becomes the new backdrop for the vocals from The Beatles classic "Day In The Life".

It's as simple as that and it works a treat!

Go Visit : Soundhog
Go Visit : Mogwai
Go Visit : Kid Loco
Go Visit : The Beatles

Go Buy : Mogwai "Kicking A Dead Pig"
Go Buy : The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"

Feel free to leave a comment about this track in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.

Digital Echoes...

There have only been 2 albums I've been playing this week. One is Kraftwerk's great live album, "Minimum Maximum", the other is an excellent, and free, compilation album entitled "Flow.ers".

They have both complimented each other rather nicely. Both seem to be about the exploration of minimal ideas but pushed as far as you can take them. Kraftwerk doing so with their clinical, but catchy electronics and "Flow.ers" doing so with the spacious sound of digital dub.

"Flow.ers" is a compilation on the Lithuanian internet label Sutemos. Home to all sorts of genres of electronica, this compilation aims to "put the most beautiful minimal/ambient/dubby down tempo music into one piece that would flow from the start to the very end".

Starting with the disembodied echoes of Krill Minima's "Pfloez" and ending with the micro clicks and ambience of Ozy's "Sugar", "Flow.ers" drifts off on a journey exploring the many sounds of ambient and digital dub whilst giving a passing nod and a cheery wave to the Basic Channel boys...

Track : OCTEX - "OTNEMEM"

Basic Channel is a good reference point for this album and the track above. Taking their musical cues from Detroit Techno and Jamaican Dub, the Basic Channel guys created a strange hybrid of both musics that was at once recognisable but at the same time incredibly alien.

Octex, short for Organic Crackle And Tone Experiments, is a young, award winning producer from Slovenia. With "Otnemem", he follows that Basic Channel blueprint. What at first sounds minimal turns out to be a dense aural soup of clicks, hisses, sounds and rhythms all bubbling away and echoing all over the top of one another whilst trying to be restrained by some warm drawn out chords. It's all very hypnotic and your concentration is constantly being pulled in all sorts of directions trying to focus on the emerging musical patterns. It keeps building and building into some sort of dub crescendo around the 5 minute mark where it gets joined by a 4/4 beat. The funny thing about this is that the beat can sometimes sneak up on you and can make your brain think that it is out of time with the constant pulsating rhythms and the remainder of the track...

It makes for a great centrepiece on the album.

Go Visit : Octex
Go Visit : Sutemos.Net (zipped download file of the album and more info on the artists involved on "Flow.ers" can be found there.)

Feel free to leave a comment about this track in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.

This should have been the first post when I relaunched The Pipe...

There are records that you adore and love. Records that stand head and shoulders above everything else in your collection. Records that make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.

For me, this is one of those records. It's easily up there in my Top Ten House records of all time...

It came out in 1999 and, to my ears, sounded like nothing else. It's now 2005 and it still sounds like nothing else.

It's a record that is never far from my turntables. It's a record that has proven to have people question, "What is that?"

Track : PEPE BRADOCK - "DEEP BURNT"

Who is Pepe Bradock?

I don't particulary want to know. His music is mysterious. His releases and remixes are incredibly sporadic. They are incredibly hard to come across and can be musically unpredictable. A special mention should also go to the sinister record sleeves with demonic, twisted heads on them that would put some Metal bands to shame (see below). For me, that does the job. I don't want to know about him. I just want to listen to his strange music.

It was back in 1997 when I first heard him. A track entitled "Lara" appeared on an album called "My House Vol.2". It was sat amongst other French dance acts like Motorbass and Alex Gopher and beside tracks by the UK's Global Communications and Chicago House legend, Larry Heard. But "Lara" stood out. It was different. There was no denying it was a House track, but there was just something about it...

It wasn't until the "Burning" EP (from which "Deep Burnt" is taken) that Bradock's name registered with me again. The track was easy enough to listen to, but like before, there was just something about it. From that moment on, I became obsessed with his music. It took me years to track down his debut album, "Synthese", and many a lunch break was wasted trawling through record shops on the off chance that a new Bradock tune had been released. When I did find one and played it, you could guarantee that "that something" was lurking within the groove.

"Burning" is simple. It's repetitious to the point of being hypnotic. It's those strings. But there is something else, something special, something hard to pinpoint.

It deserves to be held aloft and proclaimed a dance classic.

Go Visit : Pepe Bradock @ Atavisme Records

Go Buy : Various Pepe Bradock Records

Go See : Front cover to the "Burning" EP
Go See : Front cover to the "Intrusion" EP
Go See : Back cover to the "Intrusion" EP

Feel free to leave a comment about this track in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.

We Salute You...The Select Few...The Brunswick Crew...

The Flid done it.

He put a night on in Glasgow.

Correction, He put a good night on in Glasgow.

Hassles aside (learning curve and all that), he better do another one...

Yup, Jimmy The Flid became night club promoter and set up his Looshkin night for all those that were interested in having their ears massaged and then pummeled by the overall experimental sonic glory of it all.

Set in the minimalist, pulsating basement of the Brunswick Hotel, in the heart of Glasgow's Merchant City, Jimmy rounded up a crew of artists who would define the Looshkin sound, a sound that was to jump to the left (not like "the timewarp") and lay down the blueprints for what will hopefully become more Looshkin nights.

Unfortunately the headline act, MDK, pulled out at the last minute. But, to give Jimmy his due he managed to source Scotland's own Frog Pocket as a replacement.

So first up to bat for Team Looshkin was me, the CheekyWeeBudgieBoy. Now, to my dismay, my hour long set was interrupted and eventually cut short due to the other artists needing to soundcheck, but hey, shit happens, and who am I to complain? All I do is bung bits of vinyl onto turntables... At the end of the day, I managed to adapt and re-arrange without too much panic and hopefully strung out a selection of tunes that set the mood for the night ahead (see below).

After my DJ set, Solipsism took to the helm with his laptop and unleashed a great, beat laden, densely intricate and complex ambient sound that ended up with an extremely wonky take on the "Rainbow" theme tune.

I was then lucky enough to be let loose on the turntables once again and had enough time to drop an Apparat track before SCART Thug took over with a Laptop set. SCART Thug played an excellent selection of his own incredibly polished productions and he seemlessly flowed from Ambient through to speaker bursting Drum And Bass with ease.

Then Frog Pocket, who in terms of personality was the quietest guy of the night, took to the stage with his array of electronic gubbins and showed every one that it's the quiet ones you need to keep an eye on. Armed with a Fiddle and a Guitar, Frog Pocket improvised over the top of a selection of skittery, glitchy and bone shaking beats to the point that most tracks ended up peaking with loops of feedback from his instruments over the chaos of the backing track.

Granted those were the loud tracks. There were quiet points in his set that were up there with Godspeed You Black Emperor! (it was the strings that made me think so...) and Ulrich Schnauss (it was the beautiful feedbacking guitar...) but the strange thing was that he wasn't feeding his stuff through a laptop like the previous acts. He had his equipment scattered across the floor and at any given opportunity he was poking and punching it and towards the end he was bashing his guitar against it. Our friend Bawbag summed it up perfectly, "I don't know how the hell he is doing it, but it's fucking brilliant!".

I doff my cap to Jimmy for getting a replacement at the last minute and dare I say it, as much as I like MDK, Frog Pocket was a perfect headliner for a great night and hopefully Jimmy will book him for another Looshkin.

As I said at the start of this post, my planned hour long set was cut short. Below is what I had planned to play and you can download some of the tracks too. The ones marked with an asterisk unfortunately had to be dropped. But don't let that put you off downloading the ones marked so. The Timewriter track is a killer, it's just a shame I never got to play it and hear it on a good system....

***

" CheekyWeeBudgieBoy Presents A Selection Of Records Played For Your Enjoyment "

Mia Doi Todd - I Gave You My Home
Twine - Plectrum
Lucky Pierre - Blank For Your Own Message
Drome - Squirrel
Seefeel - Time To Find Me (Come Inside)
Lillenthal - King Of Information
The Marcia Blaine School For Girls - Pink Sticks *
The Ecstacy Of Saint Theresa - Interstellar Overdose
Drome - Hinterland, Kassler Kessel
Funki Porcini - The Great Drive By *
no-man - Back To The Burning Shed
no-man - Days In The Trees (Reich)
F.U.S.E - Nitedrive
Apparat - Back To The Krib
The Timewriter - Lost In Lyrix *
Doctor Rockit - Cameras And Rocks *
Panash - Unicorn *

***

Go Visit : Solipsism
Go Visit : SCART Thug @ Barking Spider Electronics
Go Visit : Frog Pocket @ MouthMoth Records

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie

Welcome To Celebrity Fog Donkey.

At the tail end of 1999, in the now long gone Tower Records in Glasgow, I happened to stumble across the album above, Spymania Allstars "Welcome To Celebrity Fog Donkey". It was in the new releases of the Dance section, an area I was far too familiar with for a good many years. The sleeve stood out as it was, well how can I put it nicely, erm, crap. As you can see for yourselves, it's black and white, has a picture of a mutated head and an Airfix kit on it and on the version I bought, the words, "fog donkey" had been scored out in black marker pen... Curiosity got the better of me, it got flipped over and I started to read the tracklisting. The first track was called "Henry's A Bastard", the second was, "We Live In A World Of Shit" and further down was a track which made me laugh entitled, "Orienteering Is Fucking Rubbish". I knew nothing of the folk behind the tracks or anything about the Spymania label, but I did spot a track by someone called Cassetteboy...

I had read about him in some music magazine and knowing about his comedy cut-up technique, but not actually having heard any of it, I decided to part with my money and buy the thing. I'm glad I did, it's become one of my favourite CD's.

It took a good few listens mind to get my head around it as it's a beautiful shambles of a thing. In the space of the first half of the album it's jumped from 20 second tracks that sample Henry's Cat (the afformentioned "Henry's A Bastard"), through a cover of Joy Division's "Isolation" that sounds as though the guy recorded his vocals onto one of those old tape recorders as the batteries were running down, some 303 madness by T Maxx, Cassetteboy's cut up that manages to poke fun at Gary Glitter, Aids, Myra Hindley and Tim Westwood in the space of 3 minutes, some Tortoise-esque ambient acoustic track by Transbeauce and a hilarious song about fire safety by someone called Pleated Lemon. The second half is just as diverse taking in elements of house and downtempo too.

What really made this album though, was that it became well known amongst my friends at that time as the weird but funny album that was bunged on everytime we were all drunk in my flat. It soundtracked many a messy alcohol fuelled night and the inside sleeve contributed a good few laughs aswell - amongst other things there is a picture of the photo fit for Jill Dando's killer with a speech bubble proclaiming, "Sorry Jill" and an American newspaper Wanted ad that reads, "WANTED Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke....You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before."

Below are a few of my favourite tracks from it.

Track : MDK - "WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF SHIT"

This is the first of 2 MDK tracks that appear on "Welcome To Celebrity Fog Donkey". "We Live In A World Of Shit" is a big deep, dirty, hissy, drum and bass track that sounds as though the main chords are being played on a church organ. The chords and a chiming refrain soften it all, but it still whacks a fair punch and keeps you on your toes as the beats keep twisting and changing. A great track.

MDK is headlining Jimmy The Flid's LOOSHKIN night in Glasgow this Sunday (5th June)- See details below. Going on the stuff I have heard by MDK I'm sure you can expect the unexpected. He can change from chilled out ambience, to glitchy electronica, shuffling Hip Hop Beats, Drum and Bass and Heavy Metal in the space of a couple of minutes - if his "Open Transit" album is a good indication then it will be a good night. So if you are in Glasgow on sunday and fancy a wee night out, then you'll be more than welcome at LOOSHKIN.

Track : PLEATED LEMON - "SAFETY SONG"

This is a work of wonky genius. It's not a dance track, it's a lovely, jolly and very funny pop song that teaches you the importance of Fire Safety.

Track : T3 PERM LEECH - "ORIENTEERING IS FUCKING RUBBISH"

Oh man, where do I start in describing this? I can't. It'd ruin it. It's incredibly short - around 50 seconds or so, but sweet jesus, it once made me burst out laughing on a busy train listening to this...

Track : BIG MAN ACE ACE MEETS SNAKE'S LEG - "DISTRO"

Another short one, if only it was as long as the band name... Like MDK's track above, this too is drum and bass. It differs though as it's more in style with the 2 drum and bass tracks I bunged up on The Pipe last week. "Distro" is polished and shimmers along quite nicely, but as I said, it's short. Just as it gets going, it finishes. But hey, that's what repeat buttons are for. And yes, sample spotters, that is a sample of The Fall's "Eat Y'Self Fitter" towards the end...

Go Visit : Spymania
Go Visit : MDK - Relive The Future

Go Buy : Spymania Allstars - Welcome To Celebrity Fog Donkey
Go Buy : Various MDK Records...

Come Along To :

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie

Guitars + Feedback x Electronics + Trumpets = Happy Boy

I always love going to King Tuts in Glasgow. It's easily my favourite venue for gigs. It's probably down to it's size and intimacy, but it's also down to the fact that I have so many memories of seeing so many great bands in a place of that size and who then went on to bigger things.

"aye, I remember seeing so and so in Tuts years ago wi' only aboot 60 other folk...ah, they're no the same noo they play the Barra's an' that....".

You're guaranteed to hear that sentence in any given Glasgow pub when the topic of music comes up. I've even used it myself...

Jimmy The Flid had mentioned going last night as he wanted to go check out "My Electric Love Affair". I hadn't heard of them, but noticed that the band headlining, Diefenbach, were a band I had heard before and quite liked. So a plan was made. A trip to Glasgow for beer and to see 3 bands all for the sum of five quid. Not bad at all.

Track : MY ELECTRIC LOVE AFFAIR - "(SO) I'M ALONE"

Unfortunately, I never got to see My Electric Love Affair. I got to blethering in the bar to two guys I used to work with who had nipped across the road from work for a cheeky pint. Jimmy went up and seen them though and by all accounts they were very good.

I did buy a 12" & 7" they had for sale, the 12", "As If I Get Confused", particularly caught my eye what with it's fantastic picture of Phil Spector posed above his mixing desk (you can see it on their website) - as MELA's manager said to me, when I mentioned the sleeve, "Aye, a young Spector, before he started wavin' guns aboot..."

This morning I gave both bits of vinyl an airing and was very impressed and wished I had actually seen them live.

"As If I Get Confused" and the 7", "Infinite Mass",are both dark, trippy slabs of feedback that build into huge walls of sound - The Spector link being quite apt... The reference points are clearly there, from bands like Spacemen 3, My Bloody Valentine, Loop and the like, but what sets them apart is that these spacey drawn out excursions of noise are played with the confident swagger of bands like The Stooges and early Jesus And Mary Chain. "(So) I'm Alone", which is the B-side to "Infinite Mass", is a prime example of this.

Next time, I'll definitely make a point of seeing them live.

Track : DIEFENBACH - "MAKE YOUR MIND"

For some reason the band that were supposed to be headlining, the band I wanted to see, got relegated to 2nd on the bill. Still in the throws of a lager fuelled conversation downstairs with my ex-work mates, I managed to miss half of their set.

What I did hear was ok. Nothing really stood out until the finale which was a fantastic shoegaze-esque cover version of the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive", which has to be heard to be believed.

Shame I never clicked with them live, as "Make Your Mind" is a great record. A pop gem drenched in electronica and, again, feedback. These Dane's claim on their website that they are "the five bastard sons of Brian Wilson and Prefuse 73". Now that is enough to catch my attention and it's not wide of the mark in describing them - I'd lob in My Bloody Valentine for good measure, but for some reason it didn't really come across that way last night. On record, yes, but not live. Maybe they were in the huff for getting demoted or they were just having a bad gig, maybe I wasn't in the mood. Who knows. But I do recommend the track above and their debut album "Run Trip Fall" from which it comes from.

Track : LUXURY CAR - "THE HEART OF THE MATTER"

I did see all of Luxury Car though, and I'm glad I did. They were a great surprise to me. A 3 piece band, girl on bass and occassional trumpet duties!, a guitarist as singer and frontman and a keyboard player with a love for the Melodica. No drums though. No need. They had a laptop programmed with a whole host of jackhammer beats, occassional drum and bass flourishes and killer percussion. So each track started off with the PC unleashing these electronic blasts while the band played their dark pop over it all.

Some great catchy tunes too. "The Heart Of The Matter" is all post-punk guitars, a singer who reminds me of a very young Ian McCulloch, and 303 burbles. Oh yes, 303's! It's from their first single and you can get it from their website. Well worth £3 of your hard earned cash.

So a fiver was well spent last night, and slightly more was spent on booze. All in all a good night.

Go Visit : My Electric Love Affair
Go Visit : Diefenbach
Go Visit : Luxury Car

Go Buy : My Electric Love Affair
Go Buy : Diefenbach
Go Buy : Luxury Car

Feel free to leave a comment about these tracks in The Pipe section of the forum

Ta,
Budgie.