Stinky Grooves 28.12.10 & above the table & un-indexed Footsie

Jah Army - Stephen Marley ft Damian Marley & Buju Banton
Just Aint The Same - Damian 'Junior Gong' Marley (Yard Vybz)
Jump Inna D Benz - Vybz Kartel
Good Under Deh - Mr Lexx aka Rockstar (Hot Coffee)
Gucci Store - Mr Lexx (Massive B)
Can't Tek Selassie - Major Mackerel (Massive B)
Baby - Vybz Kartel (Massive B)
Da Eagle Riddim - Massive B (Massive B)
Versjon Wolfenstein - Bjorn Torske (Smalltown Supersound)
Visual Pollution - Clanky B Tuffins (Round Trip Mars)
Amatuer (Soap & Water Edit) - Unitone HiFi ft Coco Solid (Round Trip Mars)
Cuss Cuss (Footsie Dub) - Footsie (Rastaman Pickney Free EP)
Hold On - Footsie (Rastaman Pickney Free EP)
Restructure 2 Rebuild - Digital Mystikz/Moritz Von Oswald (Honest Jon's)
Simply Beautiful - Al Green vs George Lenton (soundcloud)
Sideshow Viewing - Mycroft Holmes (Round Trip Mars)
Kick In The Kikuchi (J-Boogie Edit) - Greenwood Rhythm Coalition vs Biggie (soundcloud)
Cumbia Kitty (J-Boogie Arepa Edit) - Miramar E-40 (soundcloud)
International Sonideros Anthem (Sonoras Pibe Chorro Blend) - UGK (soundcloud)
Benefit (Scratch 22 Club Mix) - Home Brew
Bille Jean Riddim (Hip Hop Mix) - Irie Ites (Irie Ites)
Furu - Bjorn Torske (Smalltown Supersound)
Silbando (GRC Rmx) - Los Riberenos (Barbes)
Suave Drink Down (J-Boogie Rmx) - Mr V meets Elvis Crespo (soundcloud)
Nitten Niti - Bjorn Torske (Smalltown Supersound)
Bobby In Phoenix - Gorillaz (EMI)
Aspen Forest - Gorillaz (EMI)
Angels - jj (Sincerely Yours)
New Work - jj (Sincerely Yours)
Skylurking - Jefferson Belt (Round Trip Mars)
Theres A Hand/Forcefields Of Love - Lonely God (Round Trip Mars)
So Unreal - LA Vampires ft Matrix Metals (Not Not Fun)
I Go To Sleep - Anika (Stones Throw)
Masters Of War (Dub) - Anika (Stones Throw)
American Dreamer - Maxxi & Zeus (International Feel)
To Care (Like You) - James Blake (Universal)
Tang Ngarn Si Nong - Dao Bandon (Soundway)
Me Jom Ka Lon - Dao Bandon (Soundway)
Naffosah - Sami Rageb (Mer)
Liquidator - Leslie Butler (Harry J)
Legalising - Dennis Alcapone (Chalwa)
Calling 1,000 Dreadlocks - Dennis Alcapone (Chalwa)
Six Million Dollar Rock - Skin, Flesh & Bones (Chalwa)
Boxing - Al Campbell (Starlight)

Seasonal greetings/beatings etc etc ......

The days of the pre-Xmas groove glut followed by the New Year negativity for new sounds are long gone, it was only a few years ago that we'd be digging out the best of the year and what have you around these times.

Instead, these days you can't move for fresh, out of the pantry quality gear, much of it legitimately free, plenty more payable for and worthy of every penny. Leading the free charge is of course our own Invaderism which is now available in super high quality from the Round Trip Mars bandcamp.... and it's still free. Same goes for soundcloud where all the Invaderism tracks are up in a natty set and the back cat gems we drew your attention to through December will be downloadable until New Year's day, and then after streaming only. We've had some massive support with Invaderism - on the blog tip Dub Dot Dash, MTC, Digital Diggers and Nerdy Frames all came to the party and then some (know there was more but ... y'know), while Amplifier, Under The Radar, Cheese On Toast etc etc also lent a helping hand (and I'm not going to start linking to radio stations otherwise I'll never get to sleep but b-Nets, Emma and RNZ, Public Address Radio - all large), so much appreciated homeses.

A goodly dose of other quality music on the free tip about for the eagle eyed punters, below I'm alerting you to Footsie's EP 'Rastaman Pickney' which is reggaematical business of an exceptional and grimy nature but also check out jj's new mix CD which is available from Sincerely Yours and solidifies their position in my guilty pleasures Dept.

Sonora's Remezclas Remix album has some SG gems on there, and can be found by scraping around the internet, as can George Lenton's 'Midnight EP' (we played his sensitively done Al Green rub tonight) another free scorcher. Then there's all them soundcloud links, I swear I'm giving away the keys to the kingdom and secret weapons left, right and centre... get busy.

As mentioned, here's a cut from the Rastaman Pickney EP by Newham General's ,Footsie. You can grab the whole thing for free from here, or the Newham Generals site, so treat this as a heartical hors d'oeuvres...or suchlike. It's a tuff lick of 'Cuss Cuss'...you won't be arguing.

CUSS CUSS (FOOTSIE'S DUB) - FOOTSIE


Also below is last week's playlist kindly supplied by Pat of Dubhead, and it looks like he did a grand job of standing in. Taken me a while to get this up, with Xmas and everything, but I shall be returning the favour, and the flavour, on the Rhythm Selection in a little under 2 weeks on the 10th of Jan...can't wait!

Stinky Grooves playlist 21.12.10 guest selector Dubhead

Concentration Version 3 - The Crystalites (Move & Groove)
Gunga Din Dub - Rico Rodriguez (Ghetto Rockers)
There Is No Dub - Abyssinians (Clinch)
Carpentry - DEB Players (DEB Music)
Don't Call Me Scarface - DJ Platurn (Bstrd Boots)
Hot Witness - DJ Catalist (Bstrd Boots)
Butterflies - Gappy Ranks (Jazzwad)
Hunt Me Down - Tasonia (Jazzwad)
How Better Ah Go Come - Junior Kelly (Impact)
Crucial Times - Sizzla (VP)
Footstool - Luciano (Maximum Sound)
Where You Belong - Gyptian (VP)
Skull In A Belly - Demarco (Juke Boxx)
Suppose - Kiprich (Juke Boxx)
Man Yuh Nah Deal Wid Love - Elephant Man (Juke Boxx)
Blessing - Capleton (VP)
Walk With Jah - Chezidek (Jahsolidrock)
No Money - Romain Virgo (VP)
World Crisis - Don Carlos & Million Stylez (Ink A Link)
Put The Stereo On - Gappy Ranks (Peckings)
Ethnic Cleansing - Yami Bolo (Maximum Sound)
Blaze It - Burro Banton & Tony Curtis (Greenyard)
Dub Foundation - Dougie Conscious ft The Congos (Black Redemption)
Kingston Tower - Lee Scratch Perry & Adrian Sherwood (On-U Sound)
Kingdom Of Zion - Alborosie (Greensleeves)
Peace Of Mind - Dub Pistols ft Rodney P & Red Star Lion (Sunday Best)
Big Tings Redone - Roots Manuva meets Wrongtom ft Seanie T (Big Dada)
Highest Grade - Elephant Wise ft Deadly Hunta (Das Vibes)
Reggae Testamon Remix - Unity Pacific meets Rajiv Agarwal (A Moving Production)
Come To Me (International Observer Remix) - The Black Seeds (theblackseeds.com)
Fyah Bed (Dub Terminator Remix) - Reality Chant ft Natty King (Reality Chant)
These Words These Sounds These Powers (J-Star's Concrete Breakout Mix) - Sola Rosa ft Spikey Tee (Way Up)
Sing It To Me (Optimus Gryme's Bone Crusher Remix) - Knights Of The Dub Table (Flax Roots)
Call Me - Dub Terminator ft Melloquence (dubterminator.com)
Wellington - Jinetero MC (myspace/jineteromc)
Acker - Mr Hayday (mrhayday.com)
Nothing To See Here - Phelps & Munro (Round Trip Mars)
Chilli Moules - Eru Dangerspiel (Red Bull Studios)
Dub Father - T-Woc (All City)
Favourite Cup (Extended Version) - Juju ft Don Carlos (Narco Hz)
Scream - Mungo's Hi-Fi ft YT (Scotch Bonnet)
Business Lock Remix - Luciano (Fogata Sounds)
Fuss 'n' Fight - Oogun (WAR)

GO-FARKIN-RILLAZ gig review, 2nd of the year, it's catching on.

Sadly no pictures for this as I would have needed a telephoto lens from where we were seated, but this was definitely one of those 'you had to be there' nights, and a picture won't do that justice (though when the inevitable DVD appears that would be a very distant next best thing).

The fandangle was kicked off admirably with Little Dragon, who acquitted themselves well in the thankless 'opening/folks shuffling in' slot. With their bass, drums, keys and vox, lithe line-up there's no doubt that they would be absolute fire to see in a club scenario doing a full length set, and I can only hope that happens down here and soon. As I've also found with their records its kind of a 50/50 affair for me, the first two tracks were well solid, finishing with Twice was inspired, but the middle.. didn't move me so much. Love the fact that they weren't afraid to let the tunes work up an instrumental head of steam, and every one of their songs had something to love about it at some point. Good band and an ideal choice for the tricky kick-off. (This is why I never write live reviews, I'm starting to feel like I'm a judge on some loathsome TV talent-less contest... anyways.. moving along).

We booked for De La Soul - seen them too many times, not a favourite live act for me (no my hands are not going in the air, and I do not identify with everyone on my side of the cavernous venue) and besides stomachs was rumbling, and Love A Duck was calling.

Returning a little sweeter and sourer, we had just enough time to stand in a needlessly long queue to be served a rip-off bottle of water before it was time for the Gorillastravaganza.

You can find the songs they played and various bits of misinformation (a melodica is NOT a harmonica, not even a very big Gorillaz sized harmonica) elsewhere, but in the broadest terms this was the proverbial, and downright metaphorical, bomb. With Jamie Hewlett on board, and the whole virtual band conceit now sitting in a comfortable position, there's no surprise that the visuals were beyond top notch. Mind you, when you've got Rear Admiral Snoop Dogg welcoming one and all from the get-go on the big screen, and brandishing a telescope to boot...you know this isn't messing about. I'd probably go as far as to say that was the best visual accompaniment I've ever witnessed at a 'big gig', and it was a real juggle between getting caught up in the animation, WWII fighter footage and (genuinely amusing and successful) visi-interludes, and the on-stage palaveration.



The players were outstanding from the 7 piece femme strings section at the back, and sporadic synchronised stage invasions from the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, through to the dynamite double drummers and a raft of keyboard and elsewhere geezers and geezettes. Then there was Mick Jones mincing (in the best possible way) around the stage, and looking like he was having the time of his life, and Paul Simonon vamping with the bass like his very existence depended on it. It's been ... ahem 28 years and change, since I've seen those two gents together on stage, and I never expected to again. Really that would have been enough to do it for me, without the Clash there would be no Stinky Jim (or not as we know it), and Albarn gets my undying respect for doffing the cap back to those times in a genuinely sincere and un-cloying way. Maybe I've got my idealistic Clash goggles on from back in the day, but it really felt like Jones and Simonon were on stage for the right reasons, not some celebrity bullshit - their enjoyment was palpable and the whole way that the star studded nature of the show was dealt with (we'll get to the hugging in a minute) was genuine and humble.


Which brings us to Damon Albarn, the obvious thing would be to say ringleader of the circus or whatever, but that's lazy wank and doesn't do justice to a show that dealt knowingly with, and to, cliches. Even from our seats at the back where binoculars would have been handy, Albarn's personality, and boundless enthusiasm for this bizarre project, that has finally become wilder than even he could have hoped or dreamed, was obvious. As his career goes on, he just becomes more and more of a class act, in every sense.

It was similarly blindingly obvious how much passion has gone into the Gorillaz and putting this show/tour together, and there was a fair deal of emotion, with this being the last night of the tour, and almost undoubtedly the last time all of these people can be bought on one stage in one night. So a few too many man-hugs perhaps but this wasn't the usual series of fake-offs and manufactured gestures, it felt real, it felt honest and those who weren't stirred by that... well as we used to say... long walk/short pier.

My personal highlights were undoubtedly the two most unfeasibly murderous tracks from Plastic Beach (chances are you'll hear me playing 'em at the Minx on Thursday should you be around, they tend to get a run most weeks) that being the title track and To Binge, the gorgeous waltzy duet with Little Dragon's Yukimi. White Flag, had the Syrian Orchestra casting a spell (you could have heard a pin drop) before Bashy & Kano erupted onto the stage, that was pretty much perfect. Mick Jones played the drunk uncle at the bar mitzvah in Golders Green to a tee during the gobsmacking instrumental intro -it could have been cheezy - it could have been culturally insensitive, but like everything else on a very special night, it was sheer delight. Bobby Womack still has it and seeing him on stage really brought home how Damon Albarn is furthering and pushing the interests and possibilities of his 'pop' audience, just like four blokes called The Clash did with idiots like me 30-something years ago.

Elsewhere some parts were refreshingly messy, others very much choreographed, or at least the end product of a 3 month, gentlemanly paced tour. It felt human and proper, able to fall apart or go up another level at any point, and it's hard to imagine anything coming close in terms of combining spectacle with heart and soul and some killer songs.

I take my hat off!

Thanks to Nance for sortings, and all involved for a night none of us will be forgetting in a hurry.

(oh yeah and the Vector still sucks ass in every way imaginable just about, and the sound was pretty shabby - on another night that could have been a major deal breaker)

Invaderism ... the final days

We are nearing the end of the Invaderism drops and preparing for the full album to be available in its entirety on Xmas day. If you haven't been visiting Round Trip Mars or the RTM Soundcloud ... it's not too late, and we've had some stunners up (apart from yesterday which was a bit of a disaster), including the shady debut of the mysterious Clanky B Tuffins which is going up right now. There's still 3 more gems from the back cat, all scrubbed up for 2011 loudness to go up (SJD, James Duncan and Unitone HiFi in case you are wondering) as well as a subcontinental smasher from our NKOTB Scratch 22 which is a bit special really innit.

Do please go check em, play and download... it's unspeakably good music and it's free...apart from listening to it for you (we've already done that) I'm not sure what else we can do... and a big thanks to all the folks who have been checking our webstats are off the bleeding kajizzle!

Xmas Aromatherapy + NO Stinky Grooves from me tonight.. but a treat instead

Yus, as you can see above tis the last Aromatherapy of the year ,and we are coming correct on Thursday with a bumper bag of new and tested crucialities. Hope to see you there, kicking off at 8.30 as per usual (back in the 2nd week of Jan btw)

What is not usual is that I shall be skiving from Stinky Grooves tonight. Takes a lot to do that and the Gorillaz line-up is plenty unusual and worth breaking the habit of a lifetime for. Fortunately the Rt Hon Dubhead has agreed to step in and man the reins, so those unfortunates who will not be braving the Vector should be plenty looked after. A tad bummed I won't get to hear what Pat has for you, but I shall be returning the favour on the Rhythm Selection on January 10th so it's evens shakin' stevens, and I'll be back next week with a double dose of stinks and grooves to help us all through the seasonal sprawl.

All being well I should be chucking up a few words about the Gorillaz gig in the next day or two but if you've been umming and aahing about going .... get it together..tix still available and as far as I'm concerned there will be more worthwhile talent assembled on that stage tonight than the sum total of all the repugnant, low aiming business ventures ... erm festivals that are imminent... Snooze and lose, sleep and weep - this will be the first time I've seen Mick Jones and Paul Simonon on the same stage since July 18, 1982.... and I'm FUCKING EXCITED about that (let alone the rest, the Little Dragons, the HBEs etc etc etc)

Stinky Grooves 14.12.10 Invaderism & Gorillaz gig gear-uppery

Jah Army - Stephen Marley ft Damian Marley
Bill - Tifa
Girls Dem Love Me - Erup (Bread Back)
Stinkin Rich Rmx - Gappy Ranks ft Kibaki (Daseca)
My Sound - Skarra Mucci ft Weedy G Soundforce (Weedy G Soundforce)
Mack Daddy's Girls - Mikey Jarrett (Mercury)
Bullit - Seanie T (suspectpackages.com)
Benefit (Scratch 22 Club Mix) - Homebrew
Int'l Players Anthem (Instro) - UGK ft Outkast (Zomba)
Amatuer - Unitone HiFi ft Coco Solid (Round Trip Mars)
Skylurking - Jefferson Belt (Round Trip Mars)
Sideshow Viewing - Mycroft Holmes (Round Trip Mars)
Plastic Beach - Gorillaz ft Paul Simonon & Mick Jones (EMI)
To Binge Gorillaz ft Little Dragon (EMI)
Twice - 16Bit ft Little Dragon
Phaseone - Rightwrong (Lefse)
Abeng Dub - Scientist vs Kode9 & Spaceape (Tectonic)
Shottas (Camo UFOs Remix) - Munchi
Galang So - Wildlife! ft Major Mackerel (bandcamp)
Revolution Riddim - Ove Naxx (Metro Dub)
Triple Agent - Stinky Jim (Round Trip Mars)
Lam Plearn Toh Lom Nhao - Yenjit Porntawi (Soundway)
Fai Yen - Ream Darano (Soundway)
Cmby'ah - Pwedza (soundcloud)
Desire (Moodymann Rmx) - Jose James (Brownswood)
New York Is Killing Me (Jamie xx Rmx) - Gil Scot Heron (XL)
There's A Hand/Forcefields Of Love - Lonely God (Round Trip Mars)
Young Montana ? Version - Astro Nautico (bandcamp)
How Would U KNow - LA Vampires ft Matrix Metals (Not Not Fun)
Silver Bells - Moon Duo (Holy Mountain)
Mavi Septet - Hayvanlar Alemi (Sublime Frequencies)
Window Rattle - Scratch 22 (Round Trip Mars)
Queen Of Puddings - Moon Wiring Club (Ghost Box)
The Queen Speaks - Moon Wiring Club (Ghost Box)
Acker - Mr Hayday
Push Am - Banana Clipz (Bersa Discos/Ghetto Bassquake)

All me saying is being said over at roundtripmars.com so head on over Rover. Normal service will be resumed soonish.
Aromatherapy going on this Thursday and on Saturday it's the Minx's Summer Party... biiiiig line-up. Check out the flyer below, I'll be spinning 9-10.30..

Next week, for once I don't think you should be listening to Stinky Grooves if you're a domestic, local AK type person. Instead you should be repairing yourself to the Vector Arena to check out the stagestravaganza that is the Gorillaz live show. The fact that Little Dragon are supporting (as well as featuring later on) should be a major enticement and then when you throw in Mick Jones & Paul Simonon (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!), the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble guys, Kano & Bashy, Gruff Rhys, Bobby Womack, Shaun Ryder, National Orchestra for Arabic Music... oh yeah and De La Soul, well it's almost a bit silly.
Got to say my respect for Damon Albarn grows with every project he's involved in and interviewing him and Jamie Hewlitt about their Monkey opera/album/ting for the Listener a couple of years back, was a real privilege.
This will be a stormer, and I strongly suggest you don't miss out and regret it later... a couple of youtubbbery clips should whet the appetite...........

Still rate this tune very highly....

Stinky Grooves 07.12.10 & a tip towards fresh K.E.N.-ness

Girls Dem Love Me - Erup (Bread Back)
Galong So - Wildlife! ft Major Mackerel (bandcamp)
Too Much Man - Busy Signal (Big Ship)
Stepping Razor - Flexx (Big Ship)
Something Bout Da Whine Deh - Beenie Man (Big Ship)
Winning Riddim - Stephen McGregor (Big Ship)
Talking Drum - Banana Clipz (Bersa Discos/Ghetto Bassquake)
Cumbia De Sal (Melo Re-Drum) - DJ Melo (soundcloud)
Iglesia San Miguel de Canoa - Los Macuanos (soundcloud)
Skull Monkeys - Samuel Demite mas (soundcloud)
Voy Quemando Uno Gigante - Miss Bolivia vs The Binary Orchestra (soundcloud)
Pubelo Muerto - Los Macuanos ft Scout Klas (soundcloud)
There's A Hand/Forcefields Of Love - Lonely God (Round Trip Mars)
Nothing To See Here - Phelps & Munro (Round Trip Mars)
Acker - Mr Hayday
Slumberwick Dreams - Moon Wiring Club (Ghost Box)
Passarinho - Souleance (First Word)
Into The Cosmos (Mr Beatnick Dub) - Architeq (Tirk)
Woodsmoke & Treacle - Moon Wiring Club (Ghost Box)
The Owd Wedding March - Moon Wiring Club (Ghost Box)
Sideshow Viewing - Mycroft Holmes (Round Trip Mars)
Abeng Dub - Scientist vs Kode9 & Spaceape (Tectonic)
After All Dub (ft Prince Jamo) - Scientist vs RSD (Tectonic)
Amateur - Unitone HiFi ft Coco Solid (Round Trip Mars)
Roof Over My Head Dub - Prince Fatty ft Little Roy (Mr Bongo)
Window Rattle - Scratch 22 (Round Trip Mars)
Benefit (Scratch 22 Club Mix) - Home Brew
Shiny Suit Theory - Jay Electronica, Jay Z & The Dream (Universal)
Paid - Lotek (Counter Clockwise)
Last Night's Blurry Memories - Tokimonsta (All City)
The Incident at Mbuji-Mayi - Kassai All Stars vs Bass Clef (Crammed)
Pulso - Dubbel Dutch (SSSSS)
Poison Dart (Scratcha DVA Rmx) - The Bug (Ninja Tune)
Showdown In Chinatown - Becoming Real ft Trim (Not Even)
Phoenix - Hyetal (Orca)
Bastard Spirit - Shackleton (Woe To The Septic Hearts)
Yoshimitzu - Ikonika (Hyperdub)
El Baile Cumbia - Knight Magic (Dutty Artz)
Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Rmx 1) - Steve Mason (Double Six)
Two Sevens Clash - Culture (Future Noise)
Baby I've Been Missing You - E.T. Webster (Twinkle)

OK all the giving away of tunes is going on over at roundtripmars.com I'm nearly all given out man! Seriously if you haven't scooted over to the mothership and availed yourself of some free tip-top mp3 action...what are you waiting for?? Going to be a little more generous on the time allowance and keep the Unitone HiFi/Coco Solid can of haterade up for another day or so, as we're only just warming up. Right now there's a brand new Phelps & Munro gem called 'Nothing To See Here' which was pinged up earlier today.... don't sleep!
However I would like to point you in the direction of something quite excellent in the form of our mucker from Miami Kinky Electric Noise's free EP from the eternally wonderful Cabeza! net label. Included are his remix of Unitone HiFi, our remix of his remix and three other gems from K.E.N. cannon.
May I strongly suggest you get thyself to Cabeza quick smart and grab one of these plump digital EPs (and they've got another new'un I havent even had a chance to check yet too....)

Check www.roundtripmars.com for the 1st track from Invaderism - Unitone HiFi versus Coco Solid

It's on.... check the RTM site daily from now till Xmas for brand new exclusives and 'hidden gems' from the back cat - Downloads only available for two days so sleep and weep!

How about that cover??!!! We bow down to the design deadliness of the Besantron!

Any Aucklandateers reading might feel like heading down to Barrio from 4pm today where I'll be spinning a totally Tranquillo set possibly including some of the Invaderism exclusives, definietly featuring a whole heap of good gear!!

Stinky Grooves 30.11.10 and some Chamberlee bionical dancehall

Tump Mi - Cham ft Timberlee (Mad House)

Enemies - Bounty Killer (Mad House)

Amazing - Pinchers (Mad House)

Flashing Lights - Shana S (Fedda Weight)

Yuh Ukku Tight - Deja Vu (Fedda Weight)

Recession - Zinc Fence (Fedda Weight)

Nah Stop Shine - Tifa (Fedda Weight)

Mento Riddim - Fedda Weight (Fedda Weight)

Stop The Fussing & Fighting (Mykol Orthodox Rmx) - Dennis Brown (soundcloud)

La Union De Nuestros Pueblos (La Cumbia Anti USA) - Chico Ye

La Vecina Me Puso El Dedo (Teswuino ft Dj Linterna Rmx) - Ramon Ayala (soundcloud)

Afro Latino ft Los Rakas - Banana Clipz (Bersa Discos)

Platanitos (Rita Indiana Cover) - Lido Pimienta (Club Fonograma)

Deportes - Chancha Via Circuito (ZZK)

Amateurs - Unitone HiFi ft Coco Solid (Round Trip Mars)

Tune In - The Bug ft Roots Manuva (Ninja Tune)

Sofa (Wrongtom Rmx) - Nextmen ft PupaJim (Nice Up!)

Time Makes Fools Of Us All - Lotek (Counter Clockwise)

Bullit - Seanie T (suspectpackages.com)

Escape From Kurt Russell - Shex (Metro Dub)

Bastard Spirit - Shackleton (Woe To The Septic Heart)

Like Silver - Hyetal (Orca)

Showdown In Chinatown - Becoming Real ft Trim (Not Even)

Gold Tooth Chain - Taz ( Numbers)

Darlin' (John Talabot's Oscuro Baile Remix) - Tahiti 80 (Barclay)

Masikulu Dub - Konono N°1 vs Mark Ernestus (Crammed)

Tried For Your Love(Hudson Mohawke Rmx) - Krystal Klear (All City)

Void 23 - Appleblim & Ramadanman (Aus)

Point Black - I Roy (Third World)

Trust No Shadow After Dark - I Roy (Joe Gibbs)

Black Man Time - I Roy (Virgin)

Mushroom - Johnny Osbourne (Jah Guidance)

Stop The World - Ken Boothe (Aires)

Stop This World Dub - Bullwackies All Stars (Aires)

Odyssey (Dan Lissvik Rmx) - Architeq (Tirk)

Caves (Teebs Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Fool Me - Fantastic Mr Fox (Black Acre)

Reptillian MIDI Jazz - DNAE Beats (Seclusiasis)

Gold - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

This Is How We Walk On The Moon (Bigdna Edit) - Johanna Billing vs Arthur Russell

Mukuba Special - Kasai Allstars vs Shackleton (Crammed)

Well with sun shining (obviously not right at this late hour) and it feeling ,officially and rather relievingly, summer-esque it was always going to be a bit of cumbia or Jamaican hoohah finding it's way onto the blog for your edification... and hopefully purchaseration. This week our Sud Americano muckers missed out because a new rhythm from Dave Kelly is always reason to rejoice.

Naturally we've been playing you Cham's recent cut with Bounty Killer and Mykal Rose but a whole rhythm, well that's positively Santarific. Curiously Bling Dawg's is the only cut that isn't totally baking my cake currently, but then Kelly rhythms, and sometimes the voicing on 'em, have a ways of sneaking up on you that shouldn't be underestimated. The Pinchers cut is a touch cheezy but irresistible, Bounty seems to be heating up again and both of Cham's are fire. I've plumped towards alerting you to the cut with Timberlee since as part of TNT she has been a scene stealer this year (though not as much as the other T, Tifa!) and it's just a certifiable scorcher.

I don't think there is a buy link for this yet but why not check the recent Kelly/Cham scorcher alongside Bounty and Mr Rose 'Stronger'... buy it here

Check Madhouse Records for the latest and greatest

TUMP MI - CHAM & TIMBERLEE

Don't be forgetting Aromatherapy on Thursday at the Minx and sooper special stinkeration session at Barrio on Sunday (flyer in post below).. hope to see yous Aucklandites out and about.

Barrio Tranquillo - something for the weekend sir?

Coming up, next Sunday... this should be a bit of a superlative Sunday sesh...

Last minute substitution - Playing at The Turnaround tonight

Hold the front page and stop the press.

Shall be running tunes at the Turnaround tonight alongside Cian and Manuel of Bundy from around 12.30-2.30... yeeeeha

(check post below for the flyer and hope to see you there)

Stinky Grooves 23.11.10 and Taz is the Nazz

YES!! INDEED!!! BIG NEWS AND INDEFENSIBLY POOR PUNCTUATION OVERLOAD COMING AT ROUNDTRIPMARS.COM IN THE NEXT 24 HOURS. KEEP 'EM PEELED ON THE HOMEPAGE TO FIND OUT WHAT THE CRACK IS WITH 'INVADERISM', AND ALSO WHO HAS JOINED THE RTM FAM AND HAS A SCOOOOOOOORCHER OF AN ALBUM IMMINENT....

Sofa (WrongTom Rmx) - Nextmen ft Pupajim (Nice Up!)
Christopher Columbus - Prince Fatty ft Little Roy (Mr Bongo)
Freedom Day - Ken Boothe (LTD)
That Very Night In Dub - Prince Fatty ft Hollie Cook (Mr Bongo)
Lime & Salt - The Flying Lizards (Staubgold)
All Will Be Well In The Garden - Lee Scratch Perry & Adrian Sherwood (On-U Sound)
Galang So (Douster Rmx) - Wildlife! (bandcamp)
Wine Up (Nuh Pop Dung) - Busy Signal (Washroom)
Seh Mi Good - Tifa (Washroom)
Gyal Yuh Hot - Mr Lex (Washroom)
Flashing Lights -Shana S (Fedda Weight)
Bad Mind - O'bryan (Fedda Weight)
Pan The Money - Bust Out Crew (Fedda Weight)
Mars Mi Gone - Beenie Man ft Cee Gee (MD Entertainment)
F.Y.I. - Busy Signal (Stainless Music)
Bullit - Seanie T (suspectpackages.com)
International Rudeboy - Lotek (Counter Clockwise)
General - Bounty Killer
Tune In - The Bug ft Roots Manuva (Ninja Tune)
Education - Digital Mystikz (DMZ)
Gold Tooth Grin - Taz (Numbers)
Showdown In Chinatown - Becoming Real ft Trim (Not Even)
Like Me - Becoming Real ft Trim (Not Even)
TS Hoe 09 - DJ Clent
The Announcement - Jay Electronica ft John F Kennedy
Ashin' Kusher - Kid Cudi (Universal Motown)
Into The Cosmos (Mr Beatnick Dub) - Architeq (Tirk)
The Incident at Mbuji-Mayi - Bass Clef vs Kasai All Stars (Crammed)
Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2) - Steve Mason (Double Six)
Ghandi (Andrew Weatherall Rmx) - Le Corps Mince De Francoise (Heavenly)
Darlin' (John Talabot's Oscuro Baile Remix) - Tahiti 80 (Barclay)
The Hammer (Canyons Rmx) - !!! (Warp)
Afro Latino - Banana Clipz ft Los Rakas (Bersa Discos)
Masikulu Dub - Konono N°1 vs Mark Ernestus (Crammed)
Fanpharaoh- Shazalakazoo (soundcloud)
Akiskan Misafirler Iki - Hayvanlar Alemi (Sublime Frequencies)
Ineffable Dresscode - Hayvanlar Alemi (Sublime Frequencies)
Daddy Lolo - Charles "Chick" Ganimian & His Orientals (ATCO)
Halvah - Charles "Chick" Ganimian & His Orientals (ATCO)
Come With Me To The Casbah - Charles "Chick" Ganimian & His Orientals (ATCO)
Lucidity (Pilooski Rmx) - Tame Imapala (Modular)
Let Them - jj (Sincerely Yours)
Swedish Radio Session - jj (Sincerely Yours)

A veritable harvest festival of freshness and crisp biscuitery this week with a vast swathe of ridiculous rhythms and mounted melodies making their way onto the airwaves. As ever, follow the links up above for further enlightenment, free tunage and spots where you might have to place hand in poche... but it will be well worthwhile.

For your eary appreciation this week a track from Taz, for Glasgow's ever over-endowed in the bass department Numbers label. This is actually the first domestic (as in Scottish) release from the label all year, and as far as the title track goes…its' worth the wait. Most often to be found under the Taz Buckfaster alias, much of Taz's (Tarik Cherkaoui) gear is too bombastic for my delicate (?!) tastes, but this track 'Gold Tooth Grin' shows exactly why the likes of Mary Ann Hobbs have been on his jock (sorry there had to be one bad Scottish pun) and labels like Ramp, Rwina and Subway have been flinging his stuff out to the grime encrusted kidlings.

This tune has some sort of seismic, cinematic charm that I find impossible to ignore. Hope you feel the same, if so please support by following this link and whipping out your financial credentials.

Buy them files

(DOH! Forgot to put the track in the post!!!)

GOLD TOOTH GRIN - TAZ

And Aucklandateers (and surrounds) folk don't forget the Turnaround is on this Saturday at 1885. Usual trio of miscreants on the decks with Sandringham representing in the form of Recloose flinging down a marathon session of dusty jazz and funk sides in the basement. Poster below (don't know why him so small, too late to be fandangling with photobucket now though).

Also on the way will be doing an afternoon/evening session at Barrio on Sunday December 5th form 4PM-8PM. Going to be pulling out some suitably sublime sounds in a special set for this one, really looking forward to it. Flyer up here soon, and as ever it's Aromatherapy on Thursday at the Ginger Minx, who are having shenanigans to celebrate their 3AM license with the inimitable Andy Beck & guests and a lot of scarily affordable tequila, sounds like a rocking recipe for disaster to me....

Stinky Grooves 16.11.10 & some vintage Flying Lizardry

How Me Function - Bugle (Daseca)

No Way - Mr Vegas (Daseca)

Dweet - Aidonia (Daseca)

Dancehall Again - Serani/Daseca (Daseca)

From When - Future Fambo (Daseca)

Pop Bottles - Future Fambo (Keep Left)

Punk Dem - Bugle (Keep Left)

Gyal Pharm Riddim - Leftside (Keep Left)

U Pt 1 (Scientist Mix) - King Midas Sound (Tectonic)

Hackney Marshes - Shackleton (Tectonic)

City Cycle - Mala (Tectonic)

Abeng - Kode 9 & Spaceape (Tectonic)

After All - RSD ft Prince Jamo (Tectonic)

Shake - The Flying Lizards (Staubgold)

Mute - The Flying Lizards (Staubgold)

Paraiso (Mexicans With Guns Rmx) - Sonora (soundcloud)

Latin No Plastic - El Hijo De La Cumbia (Ya Basta)

Walking Across The Paper Planes - Jairo Mendez (soundcloud)

The Announcement - Jay Electronica & John F Kennedy

REFOREV - Kid Cudi (Motown Universal)

Mojo So Dope - KId Cudi (Motown Universal)

I'm Loaded - Droop-E ft E-40 (BLVCK DIAMOND LIFE)

Odyssey (Dan Lissvik Remix) - Architeq (Tirk)

Rubiscube (GalbE Rmx) - Fulgeance (Musique Large)

Darlin' - James Pants (Stones Throw)

Akisan Misafirler Iki - Hayvanlar Alemi (Sublime Frequencies)

Bugman - Jackdaw With Crowbar (Hybrid Cuts)

End Of The World - Anika (Stones Throw)

Boys Outside (Andrew Weatherall Dub 2) - Steve Mason (Double Six)

Skin & Stone - The Flying Lizards (Staubgold)

Lucidity (Pilooski Rmx) - Tame Impala (Modular)

Carig Machinsky (Original) - Paris Suit Yourself (Big Dada)

Balandji In Bobo - Barney Willen (Saravah)

Bamako Koulikaro - Barney Willen (Saravah)

Africa Freak Out - Barney Willen (Saravah)

Mavi Sepet - Hayvanlar Alemi (Sublime Frequencies)

Night Air (Becoming Real Rmx) - Jamie Woon (Candent Sounds)

The Hammer (Canyons Rmx) - !!! (Warp)

Feat (Dub) - Two Lone Swordsmen (Rotters Golf Club)

Don't Want No (ft Lotek) - Midnight Republic (soundcloud)

Black Christmas - Poly Styrene (RCRDLBL)

I Go To Sleep - Anika (Stones Throw)

SkyFall - James Duncan & Chelsea Jade (bandcamp)

Voiced (Dorian Concept Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Why Can't I Dub You - Trinity (Vista)

Danger In Your Eyes - The (Mighty) Diamonds (Gussie 76)

In all honesty a bit fatigued and not up for much comment tonight, so instead here's a blurb from David Cunningham of The Flying Lizards about a very unique record that I rediscovered this week, having already given it a good run on Stinky Grooves back in the mid-90's….

"The source tapes for this LP were recorded in Jamaica by Jah Lloyd (Patrick Francis) as part of a series he made for Virgin Records' Front Line label. The original tapes were not released and were offered to me by Front Line's Jumbo Vanrennen with the suggestion that I should 'remix' the music. I accepted the project, expecting lots of time in one of Virgin's studios to play with the music and the equipment, only to be presented with a mono master tape. So I began to invent (or perhaps re-invent) techniques of editing, looping, filtering and subtraction to deal with unremixable mono material (these were the days before samplers). The subsequent work took a long time: as I thought it might be something of an indulgence, I worked on it at weekends and evenings rather than let it interfere with other projects. The techniques used here expanded my vocabulary of musical electronic (as opposed to electronic music) treatments and appear in a very different form on records made at that time, notably Fourth Wall, my collaboration with Patti Palladin, and my production work on Michael Nyman's records. The original players remain unidentified. Jah Lloyd used various combinations of musicians but did not include who played on which tracks." --David Cunningham, May 1995

BUY it direct on vinyl HERE !!!!! Or as a download type fandangle here … you can't go wrong!

SHAKE - THE FLYING LIZARDS

Stinky Grooves 09.11.10. and a verbal remedy from Jah Cure

Swing & Dine - Melodians (High Note)

Say You - Ken Boothe (High Note)

Say You - Naggo Morris & U Roy (Frontline)

Say You Version - Naggo Morris (Frontline)

MPLA + Dub - Tappa Zukie & King Tubby (Stars)

Like I See It - Jah Cure ft Rick Ross & Mavado (Maybach Music)

Dancehall Again - Daseca (Daseca)

Dancehall Again - Assassin (Daseca)

So Fly - Assassin (Keep Left)

Indian Gyal - Busy Signal (Kamalu/Jus Eazy)

Gonorrhea - Lil Wayne ft Drake (Universal Motown)

I'm Loaded - Droop-E ft E-40 (BLVCK DIAMOND LIFE)

Aneurysm - Offshore (Big Dada)

Chopped & Screwed - Fulgeance (Musique Large)

Caves (Teebs Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Gandhi (Andrew Weatherall Rmx) - Le Corps Mince De Francoise (Heavenly)

Losing Game - Mugwump (Kompakt)

Masters Of War - Anika (Stones Throw)

Lucidity (Pilooski Rmx) - Tame Impala (Modular)

I'm Waiting For Nobody - Francoise Hardy (Philips)

Officer Officer - Anika (Stones Throw)

Blinking Pigs - Little Dragon (Peacefrog)

SkyFall - James Duncan & Chelsea Jade (bandcamp)

Spring's Got Next - Alphabethead (Hip Drop)

Fog (Jamie xx Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Over - Fantatsic Mr Fox (Black Acre)

This Year (Pro Plus) - Terror Danjah, D.O.K. Mz Bratt & Griminal (Hyperdub)

African Kids! - Old Money Massive (soundcloud)

Tank - Igor Boxx (Ninja Tune)

Ran Kan Kan - Tito Puente (Fania)

Stick On Bongo - Tito Puente (Fania)

Red For The Sun - Ensemble Economique (Not Not Fun)

Bleep!! Maru!! - Samuel Demeitemas (soundcloud)

El Guayacan - Lisandro Meza y Conjunto (Colompilation 4)

Amor Sincero - Calito Ochoa (Colompilation 4)

Feliciana - La Sonora Dinamita (Colompilation 4)

Latin No Plastic - El Hijo De La Cumbia (Ya Basta)

Clik Clik - Sonora (soundcloud)

Pruned - John Roberts (Dial)

A veritable banger of the booming and bapping family this week, featuring a trio of fellers I'm not too sure about. Jah Cure has long fallen in the 50/50 at best basket for my tastes, and that's not even beginning on the things he's been accused and convicted of. Rick Ross… well he does make some undeniable hooha, but he's hardly what you'd call a man of morals or much class - categorically denying that you were formerly a screw, and then being swiftly found out… well it's a touch shabby. And as for Mavado, well he is amongst a fistful of the most talented in JA yet he releases 5 naff tunes for every boomshot, and chats tripe and nonsense most of the time.

So all in all a ropy bunch, but boy do they come correct over a shithouse shaker of a beat from James Beard. Check heem, no links I can find to buy yet ..usual story up for a week

As ever smart money also dictates you check out the link to the soundcloud related material and there were three tracks from the excellent 'Colompilation 4' from the mighty fine Global Grooves blog. That can be downloaded at scrumptious high quality from that link, and I strongly recommend you do (and leave a thanks in the comments at GG) if you have even half an interest in quality vintage cumbia gear. The cover is plenty saucy, but the music is yet saucier!!! Don't sleep and please do peep.

LIKE I SEE IT - JAH CURE FT RICK ROSS & MAVADO

This is utterly brilliant... take 10 mins

This has made my day. A shade under 10 minutes of brilliance, make yourself a cuppa and enjoy. 'Amazing limp'.

Incidentally the album is pretty darned good, like all of Eno's stuff I'd ask for 6 months of absorption before giving a verdict but I have to say at this stage..I'm impressed.

Aromatherapy is on tonight at the Ginger Minx, doe feel free to come down and enjoy the tunes, drinks and ting.

Stinky Grooves 02.11.10 and Ensemble Economique..exactly

Masters Of War (Dub) - Anika (Stones Throw)

Don't Want No - Midnight Republic ft Lotek (soundcloud)

Sad Mood (Gregory Isaacs Tribute) - Lotek ft 1/6 (soundcloud)

Poor Man In Love - Gregory Isaacs (Taxi)

Lonely Lover - Gregory Isaacs (Island)

The Philistines - Gregory Isaacs (Heartbeat)

Tales Of Two Cities - Carlton Livingston (Hit Bound)

Version - The Revolutionaries (Hit Bound)

Stronger - Cham ft Bounty Killer & Mykal Rose (Madhouse)

Cheat Pon Him - Vybz Kartel (Birchill)

Grab & Wine - Busy Signal (Birchill)

50 Kali - Gappy Ranks (Jam 2)

Just Like De Artist - Gappy Ranks (Jam 2)

Next Level - Bling Dawg (Jam 2)

Iron Balloon - Bruk Up (Seanizzle)

Ska Riddim - Jam 2 (Jam 2)

Latin No Plastic - El Hijo De La Cumbia (Ya Basta)

Duran Poco - Quenombre (soundcloud)

Bleep!! Maru!! - Samuel Demite mas (soundcloud)

Platanitos - Lido Pimienta (Club Fonograma)

Pasame A Buca - Rita Indiana & Los Misterios (Sony US Latin)

VCR (Four Tet Rmx) - The xx (Young Turks)

Spiller - Lukid (Werk)

Masters Of War - Anika (Stones Throw)

I Go To Sleep - Anika (Stones Throw)

Red For The Sun - Ensemble Economique (Not Not Fun)

Sort Of Dubolution - Sideshow (Aus)

Fog (Jamie's xx remix) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Voiced (Dorian Concept Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Gandhi (Andrew Weatherall Rmx 1) - Le Corps Mince De Francoise (Heavenly)

And - BGM (Vanity)

Phantom - Computer Jay (All City)

Chopped & Screwed - Fulgeance (Musique Large)

Lego - Lukid (Werk)

Caves (Teebs Rmx) - Nosaj Thing (Alpha Pup)

Yes, Africa Must Be Free Eventually - RNA Organism (Vanity)

Melody From School - Dub Fanatic

SkyFall - James Duncan & Chelsea Jade (bandcamp)

Officer Officer - Anika (Stones Throw)

Springs Got Next - Alphabethead (Hip Drop)

Deadness - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

Gold - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

Rubiscube (GalbE Remix) - Fulgeance (Musique Large)

Four Horsemen - Ghost (Hip Drop)

Minimal Dub - Terror Danjah (Hyperdub)

I'm Feeling U - - Terror Danjah (Hyperdub)

So much exciting stuff on the show tonight - I know I say and think that every week, and in these days of musical overload it's certainly not the battle it used to be, but there was some gear that really spun my wheels as I was preppulating earlier today. I suspect I'm going to be spending a lot of time with the Anika album, the combination of her (impossible to deny) Nico-esque tones and Geoff Barrow's production (ranging from a brilliant post-punk/early On-U Sound aesthetic to threadbare Krautisms and extreme panning exercises) is stunning. The Yoko Ono cover was a handsome tease, and the album is even better. It's not out for a minute so I wont go on too much. And then there was Four Tet remixing The xx, Jamie xx remixing Nosaj Thing, a new Weatherall, cumbia heading into bleepier/nastier territory, time for a little more appreciation of Gregory Isaac's massive legacy and sooooo much more.

We have spoken of LA label, Not Not Fun on these pages before and rightly so, the Zola Jesus meets LA Vampires is one of my doomy treats of the year. There's far too much easy listening out there. Hell… I'm as bad as anyone, a sucker for a jaunty tune and a melody you could stick a worm on and catch your dinner with… but there has to be some balance and Ensemble Economique have definitely got their own nocturnal rainbow going on. 'Red For The Sun' is actually one of the more upful tunes from Psychical, it's certainly not a picnic of a record - yet I've found it to be rather rewarding, and refreshingly challenging.

The always excellent Fact Magazine had it down as 'Shackleton channeling John Carpenter' which is probably pretty accurate, Brian Pyles who is EE (and half of the brilliantly monikered Starving Weirdoes) certainly has Shackleton's innate knack for vocal chops that are untypical and excellent, and as for the Carpenter, well I said it was moody. You can read a little more at the Fact link above but I would listen first and read later, the joy of this album for me was buying it on a whim after hearing this one track, discovering that it was indicative but not really…and then losing myself in the rest. It's a process I'd recommend.

Check out Not Not Fun for more gloom'n'boom

buy Psychical here or in a file style here

RED FOR THE SUN - ENSEMBLE ECONOMIQUE

Stinky Grooves 26.10.10 and some choice chicha from manic Manzanita

Sad Mood (Gregory Isaacs Tribute) - Lotek ft 1/6 (soundcloud)
Loving Pauper - Gregory Isaacs (Rods)
Thief A Man - Gregory Isaacs (African Museum)
Slave Master - Gregory Isaacs (Island)
Going Downtown - Gregory Isaacs (Taxi)
Rumours - Gregory Isaacs (Music Works)
Raggamuffin Rise Again - Gregory Isaacs & Pinchers (Pippers)
Inner City Lady - Gregory Isaacs (Necessary Mayhem)
Inner City Dub - Da Grynch (Necessary Mayhem)
Bucovina (Catar Sys, Karim & Villa Diamante - El Hoyo del Queque Remix) - Shantel (soundcloud)
Dumbia De Los Barrios - Polymiller (soundcloud)
Latin No Plastic - El Hijo De La Cumbia (Ya Basta)
Platatinos - Lido Pimienta (Club Fonograma)
GUerrero - Maria y Jose (Club Fonograma)
La Paz y Adora - Sonora
VCR (Four Tet Rmx) - The XX
Ever Or Not - John Roberts (Dial)
Craig Machinsky - Paris Suit Yourself (Big Dada)
Four Horsemen - Ghost (Hip Drop)
Spring's Got Next - Alphabethead (Hip Drop)
The Rudest Dub - Lotek HiFi (soundcloud)
Medusa (Let's Get Stoned) - The Knux
I Need A Dollar Freestyle - Yelawolf
Phantom - Computer Jay (All City)
Archipeligo - Teebs (All City)
Sky Fall - James Duncan & Chelsea Jade (bandcamp)
Bunalim - Bunalim (Worldwild)
Colegiala - Los Ilusionistas (Barbes)
Agua- Manzanita (Barbes)
Gold - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

Broken Fingers - Ronny & Renzo (King Kung Foo)

Fun Over 100 - The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder)

Devil Is At Large - Sugar Minott (Wackies)

Solid Rock I Stand - Willi Williams (Wackies)

Slow Temp0 - Black Roots Players (Wackies)

Up Tempo - The Black Roots Players (Wackies)

Agave - Botany (Western Vinyl)

Losing Game - Mugwump (Kompakt)

And - BGM (Vanity)

Yes, Every Africa Must Be Free Eventually - RNA Organism (Vanity)

Duran Poco - Que Nombre (soundcloud)

Hang On (Kinky Electric Noise Rmx) - Unitone HiFi (Round Trip Mars)

Hang On (UHF Rmx of K.E.N. Rmx) - Unitone HiFi (Round Trip Mars)

Blue Steel (Instro) - Bot'Ox (I'm A Cliche)

GREGORY ISAACS R.I.P.

T'was a bit of a rush and I wish I'd had time to go through my sevens and pull out some utter faves from the Cool Ruler but I hope that the first half hour of tonight's show was an adequate tribute to one of THE voices of reggae. I suspect that there is a huge swathe of people, say roughly between the ages of 35 and 60 for who Gregory was one of the guiding lights that steered their musical ship into a long time residency in reggae's heartical harbour. I know that was the case for me, and I strongly suspect I'm not alone in that. Isaacs was amongst a clutch of artists (alongside Prince Fari, Culture, Dr Alimantado etc) who was truly taken to heart by the punk rock and post-punk crowd and I suspect it's a closeness that has remained for most, wherever they have ended up.

It all seems a bit morbidly synchronous as I has planned to mention the anniversary of John Peel's passing, and also the sad demise of Ari Up last week but they've all been superbly covered elsewhere and I'm done with death. Incidentally I have to say that I really enjoyed the honesty in some of the tributes to Ari Up which were unanimously respectful but not afraid to point out that she was often a colossal pain in the ass, and her 'uniqueness' could be trying. I tend to think that many of the supposed great leaps forward through internetery are overstated, and often actually are potentially regressions or even stumbles backwards in the big scheme of things, but I do love that there is a forum where people can point out that they heckled her a year ago and now they're really bummed she's gone. That is so much more human and real than the tidied up obituaries that talk about her pioneering spirit etc, considerably more punk rock imho too.

Hanyways a track you say. Well here's a corker. This has been covered extensively elsewhere too, but I have been holding back as I don't like playing less than toppus notchus quality mp3's and its' only last week I got round to grabbing thems at ye olde iTunes. Before that I had a (gratefully received) promo of the album but the 192's sounded a bit too wan and wispy for broadcast so I held my musical breath. More of a grower than the 'knock you on your ass' vibes of the first Roots Of Chicha comp, Volume 2 is very definitely worthy of getting your hands upon. Refreshingly there's a bit of a vocal focus this time round, and particular points and prizes go to the well decent sleevenotes (which also come in the iTunes package as a PDF, why aren't more folks doing that??!!)

This track isn't actually my favourite off the album (that's a ludicrously close tie between about five others) but it's the one they've been happy to have posted, and it's darned fine, so who am I to argue.

Get Roots Of Chicha Vol 2 from iTunes or Barbes (check their other excellent releases too, their mail order service is v good btw) ....just get it.

AGUA - MANZANITA

And a bonus, you ask.... a bonus you shall have. Our man in the Mt of Heathen James Duncan has only gone and made a beautiful choon with Chelsea Jade, who also features in James's live band and vice versa. Being of a Santa Clausulary type nature James and Chelsea have opted to give this little beastie away even though they could probably sell it for thousands of groats on the international charming song exchange.

All you needs to do is follow the link to James's bandcamp page and follow the instructions (though if you don't follow the 'pay nothing' part - you'll probably make their day....awwwww) and then your sky shall fall....hurrah!

Peace in....

Stinky Grooves 19.10.10 and a Unitone HiFi Bank Holiday Treatetito

Sweet Jamaica (Vibes Mix) - Mr Vegas ft Shaggy & Josey Wales (Big Yard)

Stronger - Cham ft Bounty Killer & Mykal Rose (Madhouse)

More money - Busy Signal (Jah Snowcone)

Iron Balloon - Bruck Up (Seanizzle)

Hush (Iggy Iggy) (Douster Rmx) - Tim Turbo ft Spoek Mathambo/Gnucci Banana (Big-N-Hairy)

Like A Gypsy - Kenyatta Fire (Kenyatta Fire)

Yengeh Riddim - Mafia McKoy (Loud Disturbance)

Ruffa & Tuffa - Alpha Steppa (soundcloud)

Leggo Violence - Alpha Steppa (soundcloud)

Frequencies - King Midas Sound (Hyperdub)

Ironman (Tetsuo Dub) - Lee Perry, Dennis Bovell & The On-U Sound System vs Pempi (On-U Sound)

Free To Funk - Sub Version (Soul Jazz)

Bucovina (Catar Sys, Karim & Villa Diamante - El Hoyo del Queque Remix) - Shantel (soundcloud)

Hang On (UHF Rmx of K.E.N. Rmx) - Uniotne HiFi (Round Trip Mars)

Duran Poco - Quenombre (soundcloud)

Bleep!! Maru!! - SamuelDemite mas (soundcloud)

Nima Diyala - AfroCubism (Nonesuch)

DJelimady Rumba - AfroCubism (Nonesuch)

Gold - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

And We Gonna (Samiyam Chopsticks Rmx) - Shigeto (Ghostly)

Fates Say - Daedelus (All City)

The Making Of A Slave aka Willie Lynch - Dubbledge & Metabeats (bandcamp)

Learn To Duck - Freddie Gibbs (Bootleg Kev)

Impending Doom (Rustie Rmx) - Daedelus (Ninja Tune)

Losing Game - Mugwump (Kompakt)

Night Air - Jamie Woon (Candent Songs)

Lesser - John Roberts (Dial)

In The Way - Darkstar (Hyperdub)

When I'm In Awe (ft Gonjasufi) - The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder)

Shattering Inner Journeys (ft Computer Jay) - The Gaslamp Killer (Brainfeeder)

Stanley & Stuff (Copia Doble Rmx) - System (Rump)

Pasame a Buca - Rita Indiana & Los Misterios (Dutty Artz)

La Grimas (Future Feelings Remix) - Carla Morrison (soundcloud)

Buena Persona - Lido Pimienta (Ku De Ta)

Dakan - AfroCubism (Nonesuch)

Cumbia Kikuchi - Greenwood Rhythm Coalition (Names You Can Trust)

Blue Steel - Bot'Ox ft Anna Jean (I'm A Cliche)

Pruned - John Roberts (Dial)

Spak & Spenning - Frisvold & Lindbaek (Full Pupp)

Spak & Spenning (Prins Thomas Rmx) - Frisvold & Lindbaek (Full Pupp)

August - John Roberts (Dial)

Shaka The Great - Overnight Players (Chanel One)

This weeks burnt offering and crisp cruciality is very close to home since it's one of our Unitone HiFi tracks that has been through the spin cycle a couple of times.

The original of 'Hang On' is yet to be completed and has a full vocal from our man the Mighty Asterix. When Miami's cumbia captain Kinky Electric Noise expressed an interest in a touch of remix swapology, it seemed like the natural contender.

It sounded like his mix turned into a bit of an odyssey with parts added from Canada and a sizzling Peruvian style guitar track, heavy on the chicha hoohah. It was well worth the effort and it's a scorcher, that has justifiably been picking up the props and dls on soundcloud and sneaking onto blogs and mixes and what have you. However Ken did say he'd gone as far as he could with the track, and offered up the parts for further interference - of course we were up for that.

So here you have it the remix of the remix of an original that remains unfinished…the world we live in. As ever monster props to Angus for his mastering, particlularly happy with how this one turned out especially with the awkward bass and looming presences in the low end dept, ....top notch! Incidentally I've upgraded ye olde Stinky Jim soundcloud account which means our King Step Dub and the El Malodoroso mix are downloadable again, woop woop.

You can download directly from the embedded player below or click onto me soundcloud page and do the same there and/or leave a comment, favorite it..whatever tickles your fancy. If you feel really moved you could even go to the Unitone HiFi bandcamp page and shake some shekels in out direction… but let's not get carried away.

Aromatherapy at the Minx as ever this Thursday and Aloe Blacc & Wrongtom transcripts soon..ish…approx…repeat to fade….

HANG ON (UHF RMX OF THE K.E.N. RMX) - UNITONE HIFI

Unitone HiFi - Hang On (UHF Rmx of the K.E.N. Rmx) by Stinky Jim

Lloyd Miller interview Part Two

To be brutally honest transcribing this long interview was a major job, and once I had reached the stage you're about to read I had given up writing anything I'd said. So I don't have my questions for Lloyds answers with this part (and I wonder how we got onto some of those subjects!) but you should get the picture. There's a link to his (almost) full life story at the bottom of this post and it's well worth a read..

On becoming a Sufi Ascetic…

Did I tell you the one that my music master said? The guy who I met up with who really taught me how to play the santur. He took my instrument away and wouldn’t let me touch it until I learned the correct mallet technique, he would only let me play in his presence until I learnt a whole modal system perfect and that’s the one that’s on Gol-E Gandom, it’s a cut down version of the mode he taught me. Exactly note for note from what he taught me, not one idea of my own in there anyplace handed down from probably David in the Bible. David went to Bablylon and from there the Persians liberated Babylon, it went to the Persian empire. All of the Israelites that were living there many of them stayed, some were sent back to rebuild the temple of the one true God they believed in, just as much, maybe even more than the Jews and those were the golden days of the world when the Persian Achaemenid empire ruled and then along came the Greek creep who thought he was something, some sort of juvenile delinquent and destroyed it all. And God said in the Bible I’m going to take care of the Persians and the meek until the King of Greece comes and then I’m out of here. I don’t want to be around that guy (laughs) But actually towards the end of his life he became a Persian and almost a human being, you know he gave up some of that stuff and started fitting in but it was too late he’d already wrecked the Persian empire and bought in a bunch of goofy Greek garbage so they could never go back. Before they didn’t drink wine they drank water, and there was a lot of other sins he bought in. You know …progress. All this stuff, progress – we’re going some place. Yeah we’re going some place to the end of a cliff and we’re going to fall right down into some horrible abyss and its like hell and we’ll never come out. Some people say 2012 I don’t know if it’s that quick but it’s going to be there somewhere.

Continuing on the Sufi Ascetic tip….

So what I was going to tell you was bout my spiritual music master. He says there’s two ways to play music you can sit here and learn note by note, and memorize it for hours and for years and years and years. You can do it that way, or there’s another way that maybe you can do it, he told because he saw that I had that possibility. He says you can polish the mirror of your soul and perfect yourself to the point that you can reflect the divine light, that is always there, to others and help them make their lives more brightened up by the divine light you’re reflecting to them. Like Jesus did for anyone that was around, even the bad guys. So he said that’s the other way of doing it and music will come straight from God to you. I guess like David did in the Bible and passed on to the Babylonians, the Persians and the rest of the Middle East. Then you can get it direct, but you have to perfect yourself, that’s the key to open the door. It’s like on a computer, if you don’t type exactly the right password you are toast. So one wrong letter in a password, a capital instead of a small letter and it wont work. That’s the same thing. So he said you have to perfect everything. So I said what does that mean? That was at a time when I had already given up all my bad habits, no alcohol, tobacoo, tea because that against Hussien, the blood of Hussein in Sufiism. He didn’t say much about coffee but I never saw him drink it, but he became a vegetarian, so did I right about the same time, we became vegetarians together. No junk food, nothing that you crave, and no intimacy with anybody outside of marriage, and only marriage if its planned. So people think this is horrible you’re giving up all your freedoms. No, you’re actually getting freedom because if you think about that, you don’t have to think who am I going to invite over to sleep over tonight? is it Sally or Sue or who? Oh and she’s mad at me, because I didn’t do this, I forgot her birthday or whatever. I’ve got find somebody, I’ve got to cruise some chick on the street, I’ve got to find somebody. Well if you don’t need anything then you’re free.

Not sure quite how we got here but this is Lloyd on being a Mormon and misconceptions about the Church’s attitude towards homosexuality…

I’m part of the Mormon Church and a lot of gay people think the Mormons hate them and that’s not true. We just ask of them what we ask of ourselves, which is to be celibate. There’s nothing wrong with that there’s a lot of very cool gay guys who aren’t with anybody and aren’t doing anything at all and they’ve forgotten about that part and they’re just working in the arts or theatre or whatever. There’s nothing wrong with them they are totally acceptable, it’s the practice of stuff that can become attachment and can end up being slavery that they need to get away from.

On modern music (again)….

People are being musically starved and that why I’m trying to occasionally give people a drink of coconut juice or wheatgrass through this music, but because it’s bitter and kind of tastes funny no one wants to know about it. We need something different, we have enough of that (modern music) I don’t care whether its Bach or some syrupy Sinatra, I’ll take anything over that. Maybe that’s the trick that God is showing us letting the devil have the music industry for a couple of decades. Alright guys, you can see what would happen if he takes over, go ahead and listen to this and now we’re going to have something that’s not that and see if you can tell the difference. Maybe we wont hear it till after Jesus returns.

On furthering Oriental Jazz etc…..

72 years! The first two I probably didn’t know what was happening, to try and get something a little different happening, but its only gotten worse. I think I was more successful in the ‘50s than I am now. I tried to get people to check out some of this stuff like Ravi Shankar or anything, Japanese Noh Music. Me and Tony Scott played together and hung out together in Italy for a month or two, we did our Eastern stuff separately, but we finally met up, which was great. We were going to do an album together, but most of these guys are dead and I’m still alive.

Did you find you were lumped in with exotica back in those days?

Its sort of like a crowded place, a tube station or whatever and someone walks by you and it’s half kangaroo and its half human, but its real, its isn’t like a costume or something, it’s something that really happened, someone got mixed up with a kangaroo the DNA has got mixed up or whatever. And it walks by you, and smiles at you and waves it’s paw, but it’s a real person. You would just ignore that, it would be too weird to even admit, almost everybody in that train station would turn aside say they didn’t see that. It’s too weird to even acknowledge it exists. Well that’s what happened to me in the Inter Collegiate Jazz Festival National final is St Louis, the judges just didn’t even admit that they had seen it. Some of the winners went to the judges saying that guy was amazing, he played seven different instruments in one ten minute slot, and he played them all to perfection and he played all these musical styles and sang these different ways and you guys didn’t even see that, and they just sort of crouched. They just couldn’t admit it, because it didn’t fit any category. It was supposed to be the vocal category, I sang all the pieces but I was playing instruments and singing in Persian and Indian and scat singing so fast they couldn’t hear the notes going by, because I figured out how to do that. So I didn’t win anything because they couldn’t admit it had happened. John S Wilson who was a famous jazz writer for the NY Times and wrote books on jazz and stuff, probably the most after Leonard Feathers. He was there and didn’t write about anything else except me. So I got a piece that I’ll never top in the NY Time, the head of the Jazz studies Department at the University waved it at me and said you’ll never get another article like that!

So you weren’t even really acknowledged?

Well they didn’t see me but I’ve been unseen my whole life I’m used to it. Its kind of nice to be in disguise, incognito, walking around nobody will ever know me and I don’t care if they ever do.

It must surely be gratifying to be getting the recognition and credit for you music that is obviously going on now?

Well maybe when I die off they can add to my gravestone. PHD that’s the only thing its good for, it looks good on a gravestone Then after that they can say ‘finally made it, two days before he died’. I’ll be invited to tour Asia, and wont be able to do it because I’m frozen in some nursing home. I probably wont do that, I’ll probably die like other health food people , a surfboarding accident, a board hits me on the head or playing too loud on a clarinet in a parade or something!

In the interests of not making this a veritable novella I haven’t included all of Lloyd’s bugbears and mini-rants that came up, but here’s just one that I can't really argue with…

Do you have those cars..you know ..you’re at the stoplights. I kind of wish we could use some of those cars with the big speakers as target practice for bazookas. It’s the only thing that makes me angry, I’m a pretty mellow guy but when I hear that think, its not even hearing it you feel it, it hurts your internal organs, you want to just assassinate someone you know.

For more on Lloyd his life story 'Sufi, Saint & Swinger' can be read online. It's a fascinating wild read that documents his teenage tearaway years and ending up in a mental institution, how he came perilously close to being lobotomized, his time in Iran, his battles and triumphs at various places of learning, his Mormonism and heaps more. Trust me you'll learn something but you'll need a bit of time...it's extensive!

Follow this link to cop an mp3 from the wonderful album below featuring Lloyd and The Heliocentrics. You'll need to register with your email address but it's Strut so it's not like you're signing up to Beelzebub or anything.

Check the previous post for links to buy.... and follow' em for deep audio satisfaction and enlightenment.

Huge thanks to Lloyd for being so generous with his time and providing me with more info, music and DVDs than I could possibly have ever wished for. Also large gratitudinal tidings to Marty from Border for setting this all up, and the wonderful Trevor Reekie who did the interview before me and obviously put Lloyd in a great frame of mind (not included in my transcript is Llloyd's suggestion that he's going to form a band with himself, Trevor & me. As I told him ... he's onto a winner with Trev who can spank that axe real nice... but for me..probably the triangle or a washboard and limited duties!)

And if you made it this far and read it all....respect. There should be some sort of prize!

Lloyd Miller interview- Part One

Interviewing Lloyd was a gas. At 9.30 a.m. on a blustery Auckland morning it felt like being transported to somewhere else completely. Amongst many, many other things the man is a raconteur par excellence and it would be impossible not to be captivated by him, even though his views may not always be palatable.

I had a ton of questions, I got to ask a few, some were answered - others led on brilliant tangents, but it was a absolute privilege to talk to (or be talked to) by Lloyd. Aside from puling out a couple of chunks that were used in the Real Groove feature (sadly for the last ever issue) I've decided to run this as it was said, I think Lloyd returns to the first question half way through the hour plus natteration, so it does take a bit of following...but trust me it's worth the time. This is the longest post ever on stinkinc (I think) and it's only Part One.

Read on and do please check the bottom for links to Lloyd's outrageous life story, his youtube channel, links to buy etc etc. This might be a good time to boil the kettle, do whatever is necessary and settle in...

How did your interest in non western music develop?

Well its kind of a strange story. Basically I was playing jazz in the LA area in my late teens, and I was trying to get a chance to get in. Actually I didn’t realize I’d been performing with some pretty important people. In fact one of the very important people I guess in the music field that I grew up with, I started him out on drums, was Spencer Dryden from Jefferson Airplane. Me and Spence lived a block from each other in a really fancy chic part of Glendale, California, up on the hill. Which is the other Beverly Hills, we think it’s the best Beverly Hills because there’s hardly any industrial, anyway in our area there wasn’t. So he and I were kids together, we used to play together, and do stuff, and I was really interested in music. I had a player piano that you pumped, so I was pumping the pedals and the rolls would go by, and the music would play, and I would try to play clarinet along with it, and he said ‘I want to do something’. I said ‘why don’t you be my drummer?’ and he said 'I don’t have any drums'. I said 'well Spence I’ll make you some drums', because there was a little workshop that my folks had in the garage. That was a garage band alright!

So I got some old barrels and knocked the heads, the wood, out of them, and I went to the tyre shop and got some old inner tubes. I put the inner tubes on, with some thumbtacks and they didn’t hold, so I got some nails and made him a couple of drums, and then we put some books underneath so you could hear it. And he’d play plink plonk, and I’d play the player piano with trumpet or clarinet, or cornet actually. We were 10, 11, 12 years old and making music. Pretty soon, his parents who had a lot of money I guess, they felt sorry for him, and bought him a real drum kit. So from listening to the radio I heard that the best jazz was Bunk Johnson, that was about when he came with his album,’42 a little bit after that, late 40s. So we tried to imitate Bunk Johnson and he did a perfect imitation of Baby Dodds (check this link for a cracking example of what Lloyd's talking about) even down to the ‘nerve sticks’ where you get two sticks in each hand and you rattle (pppppppprrr) ‘em together really fast, and he did all Baby Dodd’s licks with the woodblock and the base rim and everything.

I played George Lewis and Johnny Dodd style clarinet, and we started off a little band called the Smog City Six. We couldn’t find any place to rehearse, because my parents were using the garage for other things, and they didn’t like the noise and stuff, so we started rehearsing on peoples lawns. That was my idea. I said 'lets just go and set up on somebody’s grass and lets keep playing till the cops come and then run to another place'. Actually the cops only came once, and they came to praise us, they loved it. So they came and threatened to handcuff us, they said play Saints or we’re taking you down the station and they held up some handcuffs.

So it became a big thing, every neighbourhood we’d go to, they were looking forward to it. We’d show up in certain places on a certain day, all these fancy neighbourhoods in chic Glendale, and it became like a roving band that everyone was waiting to hear. We played New Orleans stuff. We had a trumpet player and a trombone, and a clarinet, Spence on drums, and once in a while we’d get a guitar or a banjo. So that’s how we started out, and later on I saw Spence, we made a pact never to go modern. Well we both kind of double crossed each other. He became a be-bopper, I learned how to do it, but I still play the New Orleans style all the time, any time I get a chance and I play it exactly how it was on the Bunk Johnson album without adding an idea or anything. So I stuck with it but he gave it up. So he went modern on me, one day I saw him in a Zoot Suit .

In fact I’ll send you this information. I’ve got some stuff you’ll probably get a kick out of here. What’s your email address? I tell Lloyd my address at Round Trip Mars –oh ok you guys are into the weirdness, sounds like you’re going some place!

I’ll send you the original Oriental Jazz LP on CD (and he did, and more, what a gent!) unfortunately I can’t send you the LP as they are too expensive and I’ve hardly got any myself. This is the original LP that sells for around $600, and I’ve got it on CD from the original tapes. Well I thought now that we’ve run out of the LP’s almost, I sometimes come across one and I put it online to sell, not to get the money but just so people can have it and I include 20 more of my CDs and DVDs so they’re actually only paying $10 for it, if you think about it that way, but that’s what they want so I sell them that for $200/$250 they’re willing to pay, and I send them about $250 worth of LPs/CDs so they’re actually almost getting it free.

Well I think the music matters and if anybody just wants it to collect and to make money off it, well tough luck for them. I can’t get it they’re trying to outbid each other fighting like rats in a cage against some guy from Japan, some guy from Germany and they’re all (makes snarling noise) and they won’t take a 2nd chance offer because they don’t want to have something they didn’t win.

It’s supposed to be about music not ownership!

I don’t get it either.

Can you tell me about how you first got into Persian music etc, that was through traveling with your family right?

Sort of, yeah. I don’t know.... people who believe in religion can understand this. People who don’t, will just laugh and think its crazy but then they’ll think what a stroke of luck. I was about 17 or 18, playing jazz in the famous spots in LA the Red Feather, the Purple Onion and The Digger, were the 3, and also two places in the black section of town, which was South Central. One was the Downbeat, and the other was Painted Word. I was the only white guy that ever went there, and everybody thought I was going to get killed or knifed. They treated me better than the white kids, even more than I was in Glendale where sometimes bullies would beat me up on the street. Everybody was so friendly and kind, and this stuff about back people being scary it depends on your attitude towards them.

Same thing in New Orleans when I went to visit George Lewis over in Algiers, they said you’re going over to Algiers, you wont come back alive. Well... not only was I not stabbed or anything, but people led me by the hand, chatting friendly, to the guys house. That was all a bunch of baloney and I felt black people were my people, since I was persecuted by the general public too. I guess I felt like I was part of it, and they treated me like I was part of it. It’s all in your mind you know.

I heartily agree having been told similar horror stories about places I’ve pursued music, producers and artists and received the best hospitality in Jamaica, New York etc!

Well we’re going to start a group, you and that other bloke I just spoke to (Trevor Reekie) you guys will be part of my gang. I mean not with the crazy knee length pants and the tattoos and everything but a bunch of people who get together and enjoy life.

Sounds good!

Well that’s the whole thing, it’s the barriers that people want to put up so that they can have an excuse to can kill the other guy and take his stuff. Like ‘see what they did? Look at the terrorists over there!’, ‘What terrorists?’ They’re probably 90% of them CIA guys in drag putting on their turbans crooked, long nose and stuff, shouting kill the Americans and so on.

Then creating incidents that the US creates, and then points at someone else like ‘look at the Twin Towers! Look at what those dirty arabs did to the Twin Towers’. As if they could figure out how to find the right airport, nothing against Arabs, but they’re just basic. I mean c’mon, they couldn’t do something that technically astute, even Germans would have a hard time pulling that one off. Poof poof poof in every floor of the building, as it poofs down like a perfect demolition, you know when you see those old buildings go down. I mean you know one guy tried to run his little plane into the IRS building and just sort of punched into the window – you know you cant do that sort of stuff, that’s ridiculous. Anyway that’s another subject.

All this hatred that is being spewed out, is so some people can make other people into bad people, so they can go and kill them and take their stuff, and no-one will say ‘hey you did something wrong’.

It’s all oil slavery really isn’t it?

We’re all slaves to the stuff. We were much better off with the Titanic, sure an iceberg smashed it, but if there was no iceberg it would have gone all the way back, easily. The Titanic was run by what? A few Irish blokes shoveling coal into the furnace, so they could make steam and steam was the best thing we ever had. We had trains, the whole country of America ran on steam for decades and was doing just fine. In fact the steam that I remember out in Idaho in the wilds was just pond water, just junk water. They’d suck it up and put it in there, no-one wanted that water, it was all yucky. And then they’d take old logs that had been eaten by termites that was just laying there, fallen trees from decades ago, and they would pile ‘em up there shovel them in and off they’d go. They didn’t have to pay anything. We could have done that with solar, some solar help on the trains along with a little drop of logs and some rotten water, not a drop of oil and we could have still run this country perfect.

Two lines that we’re told all the time, especially in America, is progress and freedom. They call this a free country, free to do what? You’re free to work from 8 till 7 or more, to make money to pay taxes, to pay interest, to pay the insurance companies, pay off your credit card and pay pay pay pay pay pay. The Roman slaves were freer, at least at 6 o clock after they’ve been whipped and done some hard labour, at least they got some time off. We never get any time off because we’re always trying to make those credit card payments. We’re the real slaves.

When you were doing your TV show in Tehran during the Shah’s time did you have to deal with many restrictions? Was it a free society?

Oh I’ll tell you, under the Shah, and probably under the mullahs, you would have 20 times the freedom you have right here in America thinking you have it. They don’t talk about it, they don’t have to, they already have it. I wrote for a newspaper. I wrote the most insulting degrading stuff about different artists who were modernizing, pop artists. I said 'this is garbage, this is trash this guy should go back to school', and then what they do is made the person go back to school. That’s what the Government did, when they published this article under different names, because I had about 10 different names that I would use so I could write for 10 different publications, all the same kind of stuff. So the Shah and the Queen would read that every morning, and they thought 'we’d better do something about this'. So they ordered the Ministry of Culture to make him go back to school, and stop doing this stuff he was doing.

I mean, I could never kind of do that kind of thing in America, you don’t have the freedom to say that kind of stuff, you’d be sued for slander. I would have been sued for slander a thousand times, I would have been sued for being politically incorrect a hundred, I’d have been a walking lawsuit waiting for jail. The freedoms I had there.... the freedom of speech, the freedom to do any old thing you want to do – which I didn’t want to do much. Actually they have freedom from sin, and in America we have freedom TO sin.

They don’t have to be alcoholics and try to get that next drink, or drug addicts and try to get that next fix. Girls don’t have to go out there and be little hookers on skateboards, wiggling their butts trying to get guys to marry them. Because it’s all figured out, they end up with a cousin they like. Their families get together and plan it so they’re happy and they’ll never divorce. They’re usually pretty happy, it’s usually a good marriage, so you don’t have to dress like a hooker, act like a hooker. You can spend your time getting a PHD, which 20 year olds are getting in Iran, because that’s all they are doing is studying and improving themselves, not out there on the streets shaking their goodies for the guys. So that’s freedom, we think we have the freedom. The only way you can get free is through music right?

It works for me!

The only time I think people really can get free is when they put on some real gentle, not that thumping junk because that just makes you slave to another thing, but real gentle like Debussy or maybe some quite Bach, or maybe some Indian sitar music like wooowwoooowooowo. And you just lay back in your chair and nobody is telling you, 'you have to do this' or 'you have to do that', for a moment you’re free from the whole rat race. That’s why all my music I try to be beautiful and gentle, although this last collaboration we call it, with the rock and hip hop guys didn’t quite work out the way I was hoping .

Really?

Yeah but the sequel to it is really good, the stuff they didn’t put on that CD is the stuff that’s going to be mostly on the sequel.

Was that a record company decision?

Yeah in fact, you know the record company would have gone along with me, but the two guys who were the hip hop rock freaks, the bass player and the drummer, really sweet guys I love them, they’re very talented. It was the first time the bass player had ever played a walking bass was at our first recording session. They’re into kind of jumpy, kind of electronic freaky sounds, I guess that’s what they think jazz is. For me jazz was all the way up to Miles Davis with Kind of Blue album and then there was no more jazz.

Then The Beatles came along, as much as everybody loves ‘em, I think they were the four apostles of the devil that destroyed music forever. They might not have been as bad themselves, but what came after them was horrible. And I think even they would listen to some of this horrible rap and say what is that garbage? What have they done? We should have gone to classical music and had people learn Bach or we should have stuck with the sitar and forgot the backbeat.

So all electronic music is out for you?!

Yeah you’re right. It was totally against everything that I’m for, because my theory is that you can’t write the 6/8 very easily that’s the (demonstrates beat) that came from Africa. All good music, modern/traditional, everyone has the 6/8 feel, that makes it swing. Well it doesn’t swing anymore, now its ratatatatat, 8/8 instead of 6/8. So that’s when music went to the devil I say, because he took over the 8/8 thing and forced it on us. Because it’s hard to write 8/8 on the computer.

I once tried to do some computerized music, but it turned out stupid, so I gave up on the idea, because I had to sit for hours to do one drum part, because you can’t write that without writing triplets. Triplets are hard to write, its hard to make them sound right.

It's more easy to write the 8/8 stuff, and make it electronically, so people don’t have to think, and since people are so stupid anyway they just take one chord and a lot of screaming and distorted sound and think that’s music. So they just think 'oh we’ll just give em 6/8 we wont even swing it', and everybody will accept the garbage we feed em because we’re in control. Whoever 'they' are. The ‘they’ that are in control of this are probably the worst, worse than the tobacco or arms industry, because I think they are doing more damage to the world than people who make atomic bombs and those other horrible things. The ones who make this music and foist it on people, that destroys cultures, it eradicates them, it’s like genocide. Musical genocide is worse than anything that Hitler did, or Stalin did, or Mao did or Ghengis Khan or anything any Roman emperor could dream of doing.

If you destroy a bunch of people there’s always one or two left, but when you destroy a whole culture, there’s nothing left. What’s left of the Native Americans and their life? A lot of those languages have disappeared for ever. What’s going to be left of music in 10 years in this world ? Nothing but doom chaka doom, and nobody will ever know that there was a doom dacka doo or a Frank Sintra or a Patti Page, those people. No one will have ever heard of them, it will be Miles who? And Dizzy what? They almost say that now, if they haven’t texted it or heard it in their text, Dizzy who?

That’s pretty extreme stuff Lloyd!

Even all the Beatles that are left if you sat them down and said 'what do you think of today’s music' they’d say 'its’ horrible'. It’s the same stuff we were saying about them when they started. They were an English version of Elvis, who was a white mans version of black mans music. This has gone a whole awful direction but why don’t they just step up and say 'hey you guys we’re sorry, we were wrong . We’re going back to the sitar, back to the sirangi, no more of this pop stuff.' If they were really penitent about that, then I would cross them off my list of the four apostles of the devil.

That must be quite a list?

Well (laughs) theres about 3 more. There’s Madonna, and theres Britney Spears and Michael Jackson. That’s the 7 that I know. I’m not sure about Mao he might have been, I’m not sure about Hitler he might have been doing something else that we don’t understand. Stalin probably is, but we don’t know - those guys might have thought in their hearts that they were doing it for the benefit of my people. But these other people, the Beatles and all, they were doing it for the benefit of themselves. They just duplicate, not appreciate.

So with the TV shows in Iran the idea was upholding traditional instruments and maintaining the tradition?

Yeah actually you’ve got me back to answering the first question which I never got a chance to (not that anyone was stopping him apart from his own lovely meandering trail of discourse). The last time I saw Spencer Dryden was just before I left America. He invited me, he came in a zoot suit on with a pie pan hat, and he was packing a gun in his pocket, he looked really great, a really hip hipster, and he had several joints rolled up in his pocket and he was saying ‘man you want to try some!’ and I was like ‘no! I’m not interested’. He took me to a Charlie Lloyd concert, and he did make me smoke a joint beforehand. If you want to have something to laugh about.... We couldn’t stop laughing and screaming and giggling till 3 or 4 big huge ugly bouncers, in this fancy place in Hollywood, were coming in our direction. So we giggled all the way to the back door, and ran out to the car, where we dropped our keys three or four times trying to get in.

Then wanted a pizza and a a bunch of candy bars, and couldn’t find any, and then we giggled and drove all the way back to Glendale, and went to sleep giggling. We thought that was the funniest, freakiest non-music we’d ever heard. That was the last time I saw him. Then he went and became a rocker and I emailed him once, didn’t cuss him out for it because he was dying from all the drugs and things, so I didn’t want to rub it in, and he did die a few months later. He emailed me back and said 'well man it was good to hear from you' and that was it.

About that same time I was upset because the main jazz club the Red Feather, The Purple Onion and The Digger I could hardly get a chance to play because all of these really good musicians were wanting to go and sit in there too, so I was really discouraged. So not being very religious, and being on drugs and booze and chasing chicks and everything, I still thought there was some kind of a God somewhere, so I prayed to be shown the way, how can I succeed in music? And just a few weeks after that my Dad got offered this job in Tehran, and I left the jazz scene.

If this God has answered, he’s taking me away from where I had almost made it, playing at the Purple Onion with big names like Brooke Myers. Maybe Brooke Myers might ask me to play a gig sometime, and maybe I might make it, and I was taken away from the whole thing and there wasn’t one drop of jazz in Iran, not a thing, and there I was plunked in the middle of a desert with camels and donkeys clomping by the hotel and I turned on the radio and heard this music and I was like Huh, that’s beyond be-bop.

So that was the answer to my prayer and ever since then I’ve kind of been led by this divine guidance, until I changed my lifestyle completely and cut out smoking, girls, coffee tea cigarettes, junk food, meat, animal products…everything. I quit everything and became kinda like a sufi ascetic. And after doing that I met a sufi ascetic master, who was one step beyond me, and he became my personal music teacher.

That was in Paris later on, after I’d bought the instrument and loved the music but didn’t know anything about it, so I finally got a chance to learn it. So this divine hand has been guiding me everywhere, expect for on my way to grave having not done anything, except maybe one CD with a garage band of cockneys from London. That’s what I love, they’re the sweetest guys. I just love those kids, that why I did it, they’re such nice guys I went along with it even though I couldn’t stand some of the stuff we were doing.

So you’re really not into the material on this album?

You know they learned really fast, and the musicians in the group, the flutist, the harpist, the multi instrumentalist guy are musical geniuses. In 5 minutes they totally understood everything, but Jake and Malc had a rough time getting away from the duh-da-dak-dak, all that kind of jittery stuff. It’s not jittery man its got be smooth.

The best two pieces on that new LP are ones that they were doing the recording on, and concentrating on getting a good sound, instead of actually playing. They did a little something, but they didn’t throw their hip hop stuff into it, and that was the one that ends with the Indonesian thing, Sunda Serenity or something (Sunda Sunset). The Balinese thing Malcolm was playing vibes on that, just doing some simple stuff that I showed him. So they could do it, they learned quick but they forgot slow. Hard for them to forget the hip hop beat and just go into another room. If I’m going to play with a Chinese band I’m not going to try and bring a jazz band into it, I’m just going to sit there and play nyum nyum nyeaeeer, just like the rest of the guys. I’m not going to try and mess it up for them.

It’s kinda like I felt- Tiger Woods who’s really good as a golf guy, who is really good as an athlete ‘oh you’re an athelete ok were going to put you in a cage with this great big huge 300 pound monster guy with muscles, fight to the death in the cage. We’re going to lock you in and bet on you'. So like a fight club or something, if Tiger Woods was thrown in to a fight club he wouldn’t fit, he wouldn’t do very good and that kind of how I felt. I don’t do this fighting to the death, I just do golf.

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Clock Lloyd on 38 different instruments!!

Full Lloyd Miller youtube channel here, you'll lose a morning at the very least!

Buy OST from Conch (more links in Malcolm Catto interview post just downstairs from here), they also have the excellent Lifetime In Oriental Jazz collection on Jazzman, that is a very serious record indeed - highly recommended.

Go to cdbaby to check the original Oriental Jazz album, it's a stunner!

More of Lloyd's wit wisdom and possibly slanderous chat in Part Two.....soon come!