27/07 Bangkok >>> oVo >>> 12/08 Saigon

I'm off, heading towards Southeast Asia. Have a nice holiday too y'all.

I’ve been wanting to use this picture from Grace Jones for a long time now (it fits well with the black background) but I couldn’t find an appropriate occasion. But now Mute Records released the Mute Audio Documents - Volume 1 1978 – 1981. With 128 tracks over 10 CD’s in an ongoing series of all the A-side and B-side single tracks ever released by Mute and with some rarities, it is a unique document that gives insight into the musical development of the label and its artists, highlighting the great music produced since its inception in 1978.

Mute emerged in the post-punk era. It was a era of Do It Yourself, anyone could make a record. You didn't even need to know three chords, according to Mute founder Daniel Miller. All you needed, was an idea. He called himself The Normal (Mute was actually another option), made a double A sided 7 inch single featuring the songs T.V.O.D. and Warm Leatherette (with just synthesizer / drum machine / voice), stuck the name Mute on it, and accidentally started a record label back in 1978.

The songs were very Kraftwerk influenced and although very dark in subject (reading the J.G. Ballard novel Crash led him to write this) it remains quirky with an underlying humour.

Now what does this have to do with Grace Jones? Well, Grace Jones made a fine cover of Warm Leatherette a couple of years later.

The Normal – Warm Leatherette

Grace Jones – Warm Leatherette

I recently added this visitor's counter down below and it's really going fast. I never thought that I would have more than 600 hits in just a couple of weeks! Considering the fact that probably 10% of them is due to me, checking out if everything looks as intended, more than 500 is still pretty cool. Apparently there are more people out their reading this stuff apart from me and my friends.

I’m counting the days now because I’m leaving next Friday and will only be back after 2 weeks. I really have to start packing so that in the case I’m forgetting something, I still can go out and buy it.
In the last post about my trip to Indochine I added a song from the LA band Dengue Fever because I couldn’t find another musical match at the time which is strange because there’s a very obvious one as I now can recall: Holiday In Cambodia by The Dead Kennedys off course !
Another match I was thinking of and which is crossing my mind more often lately, every since the idea of travelling during the monsoon period begins to sound less and less attractive as it gets nearer and nearer, is The Fish Needs a Bike from Blurt.

Anyway, as I went looking for a digital file of it (by using only the word holiday in the search function on my documents) I found all this other tracks in my collection dealing with varies aspects of the subject Holidays. They make up a fine collection so I’m posting them so that they can keep you all company while I’m struttin’ my stuff on a bike waydown yonder.

I’m Ready For The World ‘coss ...

01 Holiday Rap – Mc Miker
02 Captain's Holiday – Captain Beefheart & the Magical Band
03 Everyday Is A Holiday (With You) – Esthero feat. Sean Lennon
04 Satan Takes a Holiday – Rosengarden & Kraus (yes people, I’m a big exotica fan…)

05 Get Back Together, Maybe, M-M-Maybe! – Jerry Finegold [OST Holiday Shmoliday]
06 Happy Holidays Pt. 1 – The Ohio Players
07 The Turning Point – Jimmy Holiday
08 Dreadlock Holiday – 10CC
09 Handjobs for the Holidays – Broken Social Scene
10 Holiday In Berlin (live Royal Albert Hall 1968) - Frank Zappa [Ahead Of Their Time]
11 Holiday In Berlin, Full-Blown – Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
12 Holiday – Celebration
13 On Holiday – Jamie T
14 Happy Holiday – Jim O'Rourke
15 Touch The Tiger – Holiday On Strings
16 Holiday Inn – Stereo Total
17 Holiday (DJ Spinna Vocal remix) – Roy Ayers
18 One Big Holiday – My Morning Jacket
19 Holiday Home – Zoot Woman
20 Summer Holiday – Cliff Richards

21 Holiday For Strings – Eddie Bush

22 Holiday – Lemon-Curry

23 Holidays In The Sun – The Sex Pistols
24 Labor Day (It's a Holiday) – Black Eyed Peas

25 Holiday, It Wasn't Me (DJ Coco Snatch White Label Mix) – Shaggy vs Madonna mashup

Finally somebody came up with the brilliant idea to make a documentary about the brazilian enfant terrible Tom Zé. It’s called Fabricando Tom Zé or Fabricating Tom Zé. I’m only curious when it will be released around these parts or it will probably be straight on DVD I guess.

Tóc – Tom Zé (Estudando O Samba 1976)

Ashley Beedle Presents...

The London Heavy Disco Revue

Ashley Beedle is one of the UK's most prolific producers and remixers. His wide range of musical tastes finds him recording under a variety of pseudonyms, including The Ballistic Brothers, Black Science Orchestra and X-Press 2.
He returns now to his Black Science Orchestra sound with an outing for his London Heavy Disco Revue project on his own label Outhear Audio. The result is a fantastic deep, funk-drenched and warm spaced-out electrodisco affair! With some trademark sound from the Nottingham house duo Crazy Penis on the remix. Especially War on bullshit is a killer space disco track while Height is a tribute to the 70's jazz-funk producers, The Mizell Brothers.

103 Ashley Beedle & Uschi Classen – Jump Up (Massai)
104 Ashley Beedle – Height
105 Ashley Beedle – The Balloon Room
106 Ashley Beedle presents The London Heavy Disco Revue – War On The Bullshit
107 Ashley Beedle presents The London Heavy Disco Revue – The Balloon Room (Crazy P remix)

And since we’re busy over here doing such a great job on keeping you al informed and happy, I give you some more recently added stuff on Black Gold Radio.

By the way, Sly Stone was in the country for his first life show in many years (maybe it was even the first he visited the country). I didn’t go to see him play but I heard he sucked big time. I ‘ve read that his live gigs in the USA received equally bad reports, that’s why I didn’t go. It’s never a pretty sight to see such a genius get wasted. I guess he had to go on tour to promote the re-releases of his old records.

108 Dexter Wansel – Disco Lights (1977)
109 Philadelphia International All-Stars – Let's Clean Up The Ghetto (1977 Gamble & Huff, arranged by Dexter Wansel)
110 Willie Hutch – Come On And Dance With Me (12 inch)

111 Chemise – She Can’t Love You

Cambodia and Vietnam used to be French colonies and the French influence is apparently still present, even in the small details.
Like for instance, they drink a beer over there which carries the French actor and singer Alain Delon’s name. I hope it’s any good so that they don’t use his name in vain.

I found out that there ain't any beer brands overthere who use Alain delon's name but there's a brand of cigarettes instead. and what else, they eat bread just as we do, how nice.

Dengue Fever... for the Holidays


The Holidays are comin’... At this very moment I’m still working but in a couple of weeks I’m heading for Southeast Asia where I’ll be spending 2 weeks biking from Bangkok to Saigon and visiting Angkor Vath and Cambodia on the way.
Some pictures of from a friend and some more of what’s waiting me there. I hope I don’t have to spend much time riding my bike trough heavy rain.

Dengue Fever – Lost in Lagos

Soul from Jamdown

I just saw Les Rita Mitsouko again for the second time this year but this time in my hometown. It was a bit different. An outdoor concert even though it was raining all day but luckily the rain stopped just in time for the concert. The concert site was seats only which was not in line with the partyvibe on stage. Last time I saw them in Brussels it was a big party but now the (infra)structure prevented the crowd a bit from joining in.

Another concert I saw was Chromeo. The first time they played in Belgium. It was actually more of a short live set instead of a genuine concert. Way to short but really fine. Just strictly the hits up-tempo one after the other. Nice! They made the crowd dance on one of the last closing nights. The Mirano closes for the summer just like some other clubs.

I don’t think I pledged here before my love for Jamaican music. Apart from some randomly scattered tracks, Jamdown has not been going strong around here. Probably because I haven’t been listening much to Reggae, Dub or Dancehall lately in contrast with an absolute overkill a couple of years back. Not that I lost interest but tastes and (dis)likes often go in (big) waves. Reggae has always been popular but I’m getting the impression that more and more people find Reggae to be boring. Now that it’s getting stylish or even hip to say one likes Country & Western it’s Reggae which is getting’ the sack.
What can I say. It’s a larger than life cliché to state that Reggae is laidback dope fiend music but all clichés have a element of truth in them. And it’s true that Jamaicans are not that keen on original material but on the other hand the many ‘versions’ of other people’s material they come up with, often reveal a unique original point of view. It helps when you start to see the entire Jamaican output as one collective effort and expression of a common state of being. A vast body of work still in progress. And one simply can’t overlook the sheer amount and quality of the vocal prowess this tiny island has to offer. I regard Jamaican music at it’s best as some pretty soulfull stuff.

Time to give some proof. In 2001 there was a compilation from Blood & Fire focusing on the soul side of Jamaica: darker than Blue – Soul From Jamdown 1973/1980.

100 Freddie McGregor - Get Involved
101 John Holt - For The Love Of You
102 Tinga Stewart - Why Can't We Live Together (extended dub)

Great Big Western MOFO Store

Something nostalgic for the Old Folks right now. It’s celebration time. Some classic pop albums are turning 40 this year and hey surprise… they receive a deluxe reissue.
Sergeant Pepper by the Beatles is one of them but I’m will not go in to deep on that one because other blogs will and besides, I think it just sounds pretty outdated by now and features, apart from a couple of outstanding tracks, mostly crapy tunes. That’s what you get from to much dope, although Pet Sounds still sounds great.
Anyway, another classic one is Freak out. It was originally released in 1966 as one of the first double albums along with Bob Dylan’s blonde on blonde. It’s not my favourite Frank Zappa or Mothers album but it’s their first one so it deserves attention but a 6 cd reissue sounds a bit to much. There’s a 4 cd set and a 2 cd set with the appropriate MOFO title (which is short for Mother’s Freak Out or just plain old Motherfucker – which is the main reason they had to change their original name into Mothers Of Invention). The extra’s on the two packages don’t really overlap so real fans are screwed and have to buy all 6 (2 sets).

And what do you get for all that money? Well, I’m not sure. If you’re interested in the man’s work it’s illuminating documentary stuff but if you’re just a music fan with a taste for the straight and the bizarre it’s just way to much of the same stuff. 5 not all to different versions of one song sounds like overkill but if you take the time for it, the basic instrumental tracks, stripped down from their silly compulsory lyrics, reveal early experiments in advanced contemporary percussion, jazz and electro-acoustic sounds by what was actually a really great genuine R&B band. They not only rocked but also knew how to make it swing which was a pretty rare thing in those days if you compare them with other so-called psychedelic West Coast bands (some albums in the YCDTOSA series give a token of their Soul and R&B side). This concept got well develop later on, on other albums but the foundations of the early Mother’s sound are to be found on the Freak out album.

I found both MOFO packages on Chá De Pila which features more recent Pre and Post Mortem Zappa stuff but I thing I will go and buy them for the liner notes and memorabilia stuff because I’m that kind of nerd.

How Could I Be Such A Fool
Anyway The Wind Blows
Trouble Every Day
Help I'm A Rock

Who Are The Brain Police (basic instrumental tracks)
I Ain’t Got No Heart (basic instrumental tracks)
You Didn’t Try To Call Me (basic instrumental tracks)
Vito Rocks The Floor
Psychedelic Upholstery (Mixed Media Detroit 11-13-67)