The Unforgiving Minute » music

Exit Festival 2010, 10 words at a time

Paul Currion — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:53:54 +0000

NIGHT ONE
LCD Soundsystem: Crowd goes wild, Murphy goes bashful, both are right. Brilliant.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Mika: Clothes make the man, but are no substitute for sincerity.
Yeasayer: Best described as “yowling”, but in a very good way.
Miike Snow: Absolutely storming live but suffering from extremely poor sound mixing.
Die Antwoord: Fun, but still no idea how they got so successful.
Gaslamp Killer and Gonjasufi: Did Gonjasufi even show up? Limited tolerance for knob-twiddling.

NIGHT TWO
Atari Teenage Riot: “I’m getting too old for this shit.” This isn’t music.
The Horrors: Speak up man, nobody can hear you if you mumble.
SARS: Singalong magic, local crowd loved every moment, foreigners were puzzled.

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Moderat: Cruel bass, beautiful visuals, epic gig – “dance music” done right.

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Juvelen: Channelling Prince is always a good idea, so I danced.
Does It Offend You Yeah: “Alternative,” but didn’t hold my attention longer than ten minutes.
South Rakkas Crew: Bounce out turntables and crowd-pleasing MCs = best end to night.

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NIGHT THREE
Klaxons: Still look like student band who can’t believe their luck.
Royksopp: As rocknroll as electronica gets, but was there some lipsynching?

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Papercutz: Lovely songs destroyed by another poor sound mix. What’s happening?
Missy Elliot: Some misunderstanding – we were expecting actual “songs”. Good dancers though.
Tesla Boy: Back to the 80s? Fine for some dancing, but little longevity.

NIGHT FOUR
Pendulum: Once again I can’t hear anything except this ridiculous bass.
Faith No More: Musical man-crush on Mike Patton, but trust me – amazing live.

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We Have Band: Clearly making it up as they go, but fun dancing.
The Chemical Brothers: Whatever they paid you, it was too much. People left.
Bambi Molesters: Last song of last night was Croatian surf rock. Bizarre.

It goes without saying that we saw some other stuff as well, but these stood out the most. You’ll notice that not many DJs feature on this list, for two reasons: one, reviewing DJs is a waste of everybody’s time; two, the Dance Arena felt like an execution pit and was generally an unpleasant place to be. Even the Moderat gig was quite suffocating when you kept looking around for machine gun emplacements along the perimeter. Bonus information: Novi Sad is really lovely, and Serbian Railways are so bad they would be comical if you didn’t feel like crying the entire time you were on their trains.

Radio Free Djenovici May 2010: The Getaway Diver

Paul Currion — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:00:38 +0000

Thas’ Listin’ no’ Postin’

You Can’t Turn Me Away (Mountain Edit), Sylvia Striplin
Ghost House, Fudge Fingas
Discoko, Faulty DL
Ganz Wien, Falco
Untitled, Cottam
Sidewinder, The Exile Missile
Once Again (Kuniyuki Version), Henrik Schwarz
Sunrise, Norman Whitfield
I’ll stay, James Blake
Echoes, Steve Lehman Octet
New Horizon, Black Jazz Consortium
Paris is for Lovers, Fet et Moi
Broj (Justice vs Datsu Mashup), Nipplepeople
Shinzo No Tobira, Mariah
Paradise, Psychobuildings
Arecibo Message, Boxcutter
Artistiya (Sabo edit), Amadou & Mariam
Muppet (Nathan Fake remix), Grasscut
Dark, Abadroza
Sibuyele 915 (outro), Amampondo

Radio Free Djenovici April 2010: Tropical Burn

Paul Currion — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 08:18:01 +0000

The Totally Tropical Taste

“Good Good Sensi”, Bay B Kane
“Mangnen L’boulé” (Riddim Wise Remix), Poirier ft. Nik Myo
“Tiramakossa”, Noite e Dia
“Kubera”, Headshotboyz
“Bun Up 3000″ (Schlachthofbronx Remix), South Rakkas Crew ft. Capleton
“Boogiedeebweet”, Just A Band
“Ya Yo Se”, Chico Mann
“Dos Pa Ti” (Orion Edit), Orion
“African Chant” (Top Billin Remix), Scottie B & King Tutt
“Mikono Kweney Hewa”, Muthoni the Drummer Queen
“Tout Ceci Ne Vous Rendra Pas le Congo”, Baloji
“Paper Planes” (DFA Remix), M.I.A.
“To Biiga”, Art Melody
“A Dama do Gasparito”, MC K
“Chofer de Praca”, Luis Visconde e Alvarito
“Addis Black Widow”, Mulatu Astatke & the Heliocentrics
“Roda Piao” (Spiritual South Remix), Azymuth
“Elsa” (Sonido Martines Remix ft. Fefe), Los Destellos
“Cumbia” (Deathface Remix), Mexican Institute of Sound
“Bruja” (Masters at Work Remix), Los Amigos Invisibles
“Watch We” (A Black Mountain Re-Installation), Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle

Radio Free Djenovici March 2010: Sub Continental Frequencies

Paul Currion — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:34:39 +0000

To pre-empt complaints: Yeah, not all these tracks are in Hindi / Urdu, but I’ve been looking for a chance to use that sample. You don’t have a clue what I’m talking about, do you? Don’t worry, you’ll understand after the first 30 seconds. Enjoy my fellows, enjoy!

Tracks?

“Good Morning London”, Kaya Project
“Badi Dheere (Bandish Projekt Mix)”, Vishal and Rekha Bhardwaj
“Liquid Dance”, A.R. Rahman
“Sitarfire”, David Starfire
“I am very sorry”, Noor Jehan
“Apna Pujnab (Hypnotize Remix)”, Panjabi MC
“The Sound of India (Shigeto’s Sun and Hash Edit)”, Ravi Shankar
“Karol Baugh Streetscape, Delhi”, Mike Hallenbeck
“Dancing Drums”, Badmarsh and Shri
“Ae Naujawan Hai Sab”, Asha Bhosle et al.
“Vandanaa Trayee”, Ravi Shankar
“Sufi Bhakti”, Debashish Bhattacharya
“Nodir Kul (BAS Remix)”, Lokkhi Terra
“Maasi Maasam”, Ilayaraja
“Not so distant drums”, Enduser
“Qawwali”, Pinch
“Jano Mara Dil”, Badar Ali Khan
“Untitled Street Recording”, Dahravi Project
“Dharmatma Theme Music (Sad)”, Kalyanji Anandji
“Delhi Sheher”, Manj Banwait
“Captain India (Da Ravi Bal Mix)”, Daljit Mattu
“Yaad Aa Raha Hai”, Bappi Lahiri
“Raanjhan (Jalebee Bass for Breakfast Mix)”, Midival Punditz
“Jamba”, Swarathma
“Dandhi Ghat, Varanasi”, Mike Hallenbeck

Radio Free Djenovici: February 2010 podcast

Paul Currion — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 21:13:37 +0000

Tracks?

“Half Enlightened Optimism To Warm A Winter’s Night”, The Archivist
“Filhos Da Luta”, Kool Kleva ft Kennedy Ribeiro
“Bačvansko Kolo”, Kosta Šarćanski-Koča
“Broken Feathers”, Curse Ov Dialect
“You Are My Sister”, Antony & The Johnsons
“All of your things”, The RAAH Project
“Lil’ Girl”, Shafiq Husayn ft Fatima
“Together in Electric Dreams”, Lali Puna
“Fallen”, Bombay Dub Orchestra
“Twice”, Little Dragon
“If I Can’t Hold You”, Desire
“I Cry In The Morning”, Dennis Olivieri
“Stolen Moments (Telefon Tel-Aviv Remix)”, Oliver Nelson
“The Last Dance”, Bridezilla
“A Fool Can’t See The Light”, O.V. Wright
“Astronaut Farewell Blues”, Decoder Ring

Me and the Devil again

Paul Currion — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:22:45 +0000

Click here to view the embedded video.

Gil Scott-Heron used to have a drug habit that nearly killed him on more than one occasion. I met him in the Midlands in the early 1990s, at a stage in his life when he could only manage a couple of songs before he had to get offstage. He was incoherent and I was embarrassed. Now perhaps we can have a decent conversation.

A standing ovation for the Festival Hall

Paul Currion — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:57:10 +0000

Alex swings back into action with a new track for the Alexander’s Festival Hall album, which we’ve been waiting for since the break-up of the Soviet Union. Upturned is a slice of post-Christmas post-Britpop vaudeville which will have you crying while you’re dancing. Although you might not actually be dancing. Unleash!

Santanaut Re-entry Module

Paul Currion — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 17:58:35 +0000

Wow, I really forgot to post this. Only 2 weeks late, here’s my Christmas present to mankind – a mix of the tracks I’ve been listening to this Christmas in order to drown out the sound of Rage Against the Machine, who were fantastic for 18-year-olds back in 1992 who had never heard of Faith No More or Public Enemy, but in 2009? Put it away, nobody wants to see that at the family party. Christmas music doesn’t have to suck, and the proof is in the Santanaut Re-entry Module.

p.s. I was going to put something from Bob Dylan’s Christmas album on this mix, but then I actually listened to it. Good lord, that man can’t sing. Great radio shows, though.

Free Music Friday

Paul Currion — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:11:56 +0000

The magic of Soundcloud. It’s music. For free. On Friday.

First, the remix of “Two Sips and Magic” by Nickodemus. Straight up gypsy rock messed up funtime on Kush Arora‘s bass-heavy mixing desk. The original track is a bit of a plodder, but this version gives it a donkey kick and tells it to get back to work.

Anybody who thinks this next track “sounds like Goldfrapp” needs their head examined. The Black Mountain Installation cuts some blues harmonica into a downtempo pitcher of homebrew called “Good Morning Mister Woods”. A 2009 vintage but will probably age well.

I’ve got no idea who recorded “Josephine Theme” but it is pleasant. I’d like to hear it in an elevator, but I wouldn’t like to be stuck in that elevator for more than about 17 hours, if you know what I mean.

The magic of YouTube, you already know about. Shugo Tokumaru jumps out of the folk-pop plane and releases his “Parachute”. Whoosh! Watch him float to the ground with musical precision, and there’s no topping that.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Me, Horace and Ashley

Paul Currion — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 06:52:20 +0000

My remix of Horace Andy & Ashley Beedle‘s “Watch We” has been semi-shortlisted out of 450 entries in the Choice Cuts remix competition. You can check out the competition in the Remix Gallery – I’m listed at #12, and there’s some nice work in there. We await a final decision from Horace and Ashley themselves…