domingo, outubro 19, 2008

Jingle Jangle



Things are a bit slow around here lately so that’s why I ‘m trying to deliver two topics at the same time. I’ve been uploading quite a lot of music that I recently gathered around but not everything is ready yet. As often I’ve been busy working but I’ve also been to a lot of concerts. Just right now, this evening, I saw a young band called Those Dancing Days at Trix here in Antwerp. A charming girlsgroup from Sweden where popmusic pours out the watertap it seems and ends up in baby milk. I don’t have another explanation for the amount of pure quality popmusic coming from Sweden.

What did they bring? In Dutch we have a term for this kind of naïve music: rammelpop. It could be translated into rattle, jingle or jangle pop because the rhythms and melodies wander off into many directions but in the end they land back on all fours like a cat. It’s anything but tight but that doesn’t madder. It all adds to the charm and the youthful spirit.

Their Hit, tasty isn’t it?





The day before that I saw M83 from France and the local band Yuko but the most fond memories are from a concert a while back by My Brightest Diamond and Clare & The Reasons at Le Botanique in Brussels. It was the second time that I saw My Brightest Diamond live but my first pleasant encounter with Claire & The Reasons. Those Reasons turned out to be the backing band or rather strings for the main act as well. They both came to promote a new album and I bought Claire’s album at the venue because I liked the show and I already have both albums by My Brightest Diamond.


Claire sang a coverversion of Somewhere Over The Rainbow with new lyrics which consisted of only one word: Obama. She said or believes that if you repeat something over and over again it becomes true. How lovely :) If you listen to the music and read this quote I think you get a rather accurate picture of what the concert was like: nice, warm, pleasant and beautiful. And so was My Brightest Diamond but luckily she’s not that soft or daft? :) A bit more balanced and focused. Although she stopped the set a couple of times for short intermezzo’s: some magic tricks involving a black top hat and a rabbit. All good fun and still a great voice and performer. Maybe it’s a pitty that she’s not yet a major artist over here that plays in bigger concert halls but on the other hand it’s much nicer to see her in a small venue real close.


My personnel introduction to Shara Worden more than a year ago.



The concert



Claire & The Reason's played a great cover of Tears For Fears Everybody Wants To Rule The World




lalala will follow

Disko Clone Freak

Even though it’s autumn right now the sun is still our welcome guest and warms our chilled and puzzled hearts after last week’s post. Those dancing days aren’t just quite over yet. What’s more, François Kerkovian is coming to town next weekend.
Apart from that Clone records from Holland released a compilation album of rare classic dance cuts from the eighties. You might have guessed already that I’m a bit of a fan of the label, where else would I dig up a track like Los Angeles TF’s Magical Body? Now a couple of them are gathered together on a nice CD. Maybe more will follow. And what’s more the Great Eskimo from Ghent released Cosmic Balearic Beats Vol.1. No explanation needed. A must have if you ask me.
I didn’t find the time or the will to arrange these tracks in a nice logic order for your all overwhelming aural pleasure because I’m carrying these tracks with me for far too long now. I’ve got to get them out of my system. So enjoy them as they are. Make your own mix in your head.

Rex The Dog – I Can See You, Can You See Me (club version)
Trophy – Slowflight
Alexander Robotnick – Obsession For The Disco Freaks
Lovelock – Love Reaction
Little Boots – Stuck on Repeat (Fake Blood remix)
Lovelock – Don't Turn Away (From My Love)
Starflight – Dance To The Beat
Fairmont – Gazebo (Sebastien Léger remix)
In Flagranti – Personal Angst
Kinky Go – Gimme The Love (12 Extended) 1986
Moebius – Born on a Saturday Night
Enzo Avitabile – Black Out (club mix)
Chicano – Off The Wall 1986
Robert Palmer – I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (extended dance mix)
Robert Palmer – I Didn't Mean To Turn You On (dub)
Pointer Sisters – Automatic (12 inch long version)
Ahzz – New York's Moving (12'' Vocal Version)
Jules Tropicana – Come On 1983
Airto Fogo – Satine Dog
Gino Soccio – Dance To Dance (12 inch version)
Davis Import – I'm Glad You're Mine (1978)
Dynasty – I Don't Wanna Be A Freak (longer version) 1979




ps, you have to wait for a little while because I ran out of bandwith. Next reset Oct 24, 2008, 12:21:09 am local time.




terça-feira, outubro 14, 2008

Les Feuilles Mortes

It’s that time of year again. Everything gets kind of gloomy and cold. Days get shorter and darker. The new yellow pages arrive and signal that old ones can hit the sack or that they can serve a better use drying autumn leaves as in the old schooldays. The first sneeze and cuff get a hold of me as my mind wanders off away from hot summer and disco dancing and into a more melancholic mode and musical setting. The stubru radio program Duyster provides an ideal soundtrack for this mental shift.
Above that came the news that not only Norman Whitfield pasted away but that also Marc Moulin died from cancer. I wrote a couple of times about Marc Moulin on these pages and posted a lot his and related music, time after time, above all his output with Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers as Telex.

If you want more background information and extensive amount of music you can check these great links http://sugarplumfairy-joski.blogspot.com/2007/10/placebo.html + http://saltyka.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html + http://saltyka.blogspot.com/2008/04/telex-part-2-some-solo.html
Here’s just a short list of my favourite Telex tracks and related stuff. Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers both had their share in creating the Telex sound and they are responsible for more wonderful stuff outside the Telex format. For instance Z-Moor-Z. An incredible Moers vehicle produced by Telex. I’m really glad to be able to offer the Razormaid remix of Héros Dynamique and above all Raised by Snakes, by far one of the best Telex tracks. It’s not on any of the remix albums that they released. Razormaid was a magazine back in the days and a anonymous collective of DJ’s and remixers who produced dozens of outstanding independent remixes in the 80’s. Some of them got released on much sought after compilation albums.

Telex – Brainwash
Telex – I Don't Like Music
Telex – L'Amour Toujours
Telex – Raised by Snakes (1984)
Telex – Raised By Snakes (Razormaid extended DJ remix) 1985
Telex – Rendez-Vous Dans l' Espace 76-86

Z-Moor-Z – Héros Dynamique (Razormaid mix)
Van Twist – Hot Wax

sábado, outubro 11, 2008

Thoth For President