130630 ep. 33⅓ the last broadcast

Final transmission of The Big Racket! on IC Radio. Coincidentally nodding to our LP's RPMs, being the 33rd episode in 3⅓ years. A lovely farewell after 3⅓ years of aerially racketeering aural receptors, bowing out with the 5th instalment of Channeling the Spirit of Jazz, joined by Jazzmaster Phrij (co-founder of Imperial College London's Musictech Society) plus textile/visual artist, Kumi.

A double serving of afrocentric reverberations and intoxicating grooves; the first hour blessed by a waxwork of Phrij's finest funky jazz selection, the second a back-to-back stagger on a minefield of flashbacks and crack-ups with fella Kumi. (Fun fact: the 2nd track of the 2nd part was the previous record spun backwards to buy time in the search for a 45RPM adaptor, rather the curious catastrophe.)

Ears up to the penultimate tune, the mesmerizing 'Din Ya Sugri' from Ghana's Christy Azuma & Uppers International – an absolute gem uncovered in the inimitable Soundway Records's Ghana Special: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Ghanaian Blues 1968-1981 compilation.

I ▶
SÃO PAULO UNDERGROUND Pombaral

HARRY WHITAKER Black Renaissance

AZYMUTH Meu Mengô

HERBIE HANCOCK Sly

DON BLACKMAN Heart's Desire

EARTH, WIND & FIRE Getaway

DON BLACKMAN Never Miss A Thing

EVELYN "CHAMPAGNE" KING I'm In Love

PLEASURE Space Is The Place

PHRIJ Zigzaggard

II ▶

RON DEACON Workshop 10

01 pohskroW NOCAED NOR

JUNIOR MURVIN Cool Out Son
RAS G Lisa Bonet

KING SUNNY ADÉ Ja Funmi (Ja Waka Version)

HYPE WILLIAMS Love You

BRAND NEW FUNK Interlude

FLYING LOTUS 1983

BROTHER JACK McDUFF Oblighetto

CHRISTY AZUMA & UPPERS INTERNATIONAL Din Ya Sugri

MADLIB Montara

130127 ep. 32 resolution free

Unexpected turns on the decks last night. Not sure what happened but the evidence is a slur of relaxation and elation, in order of appearance. Trust the jagged spirit of Madteo to interface the two halves, from a blissful wash-out to the quadro-monophonic barricade of Ike Yard.

Been on a bit of a bin binge lately... the nice folks at Honest Jons Records must be wondering why I keep coming back for more TTT (Dro Carey, MGUN, Willie Burns, phew!), pretending to hold back every time – but it's impossible. This label has really blown my socks off. Same goes for PAN, who just released the plunderphonic splendour of Jar Moff's Commercial Mouth. That and Madteo's Noi No are possibly the least expected deck staples I can imagine.

Plus a new cut from the Gaslamp Killer with Dimlite the Swiss multi-instru-mentalist chopping the keys. Nice as ice.
▶ hear here

BURNING STAR CORE Mysteries of the Organ

JAR MOFF Commercial Mouth

RENE HELL Meta Concrete

FENNESZ Badminton Girl

MADTEO Vitruvian Nightmare

MADTEO Ratskeller

IKE YARD NCR

DRO CAREY Leary Blips

MGUN 2

WILLIE BURNS Duh Duh Dunk

MGUN Walk With Me

GASLAMP KILLER & DIMLITE Seven Years of Bad Luck For Fun

ÉTAT BRÛT Plaza

HYPE WILLIAMS Love You & Dub

121209 ep. 31 in return

Six months of digging makes for a pretty sweet bag of dreams. Thankfully the world didn't go kaputt or else we'd have missed out on another opus from the Flying Lotus of Coltrane Blood, new cuts from electro-acoustic upstart Holly Herndon, plus the broken techno of Bxl's Sagat and Brooklyn's Madteo of Workshop fame.



Oh, and somehow Peaking Lights managed to record Lucifer, and a versions dual, Lucifer in Dub, while I was still rinsing the old platters. What what?
▶ Hear here




OBBA SUPA Channelist (ft. FLOATING POINTS)
FLYING LOTUS me Yesterday//Corded
FLYING LOTUS Backpack Caviar
PEAKING LIGHTS My Heart Dubs 4 U
SAGAT ESC
MADTEO Rugrats Don't Techno For An Answer
LEE GAMBLE M25 Echo
HOLLY HERNDON Movement
VLADISLAV DELAY Hetkonen
LEYLAND KIRBY They are all dead, there are no skip at all
THE CARETAKER Libet's delay



Singing in choirs from a young age, Holly Herndon is currently doing a PhD in Music Composition at Stanford, in the CCRMA (Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics), where she is using modern synthesis techniques to transform her voice. Aside from the spastic acid excursions of her latest EP on RVNGintl, she also produces electro-acoustic music in something of an alien vein. Her gig at Cafe Oto on February 2nd is selling out fast so get in!

PS: Apologies for the pesky distortion throughout the first half...
if you noticed you'll be happy to hear it was analogue clipping from Alice, our mixing desk, and not something nasty by way of DSP.
Enjoy the fuzz!

You Don't Have To Call It Music

What happened in half a year of silence? I've been getting my fix in ink instead of air, writing a weekly column on XX C experimental music in Felix, the newspaper of Imperial College London.

Pt. 0 caveat auditor

Pt. 1 contemporary classical
or: what the atom bomb and the death of God
have to do with birds and brutalism

Pt. 2 a new ear for classical
or: when British breakcore met the Polish post-war

Pt. 3 musique concrète
or: how the Berlin Wall made it to Broadway

Pt. 4 elektronische Musik
or: drums are from Africa, synths are from Germany

Pt. 5 the American avant-garde
or: ears make music too, you know?
& a happy birthday to you, Mr. Cage!

Pt. 6 punk
or: I ain't thick, it's just a trick

Pt. 7 noise
or: RRRRrrrrxxxqtqttqtxxckkkkhhhhzzzzzzzz...blip

Pt. 8 free jazz
or: it don't have to mean a thing

120617 ep. 30 with Gábor Kerekes, visual artist from Budapest

A chance encounter with Hungarian artist Gábor Kerekes led to a collaboration at last night's Felix Music Night at Imperial College London. To the sounds of student bands and DJs, Gábor concocted liquid projections based on glycerin and food colouring, reminiscent of the heady experiments of the late 1960s.

Gábor is a graphic artist from Budapest, passing through London, destination Den Haag. His work explores the organic aspects of the mind and the forms of nature through photography, digital collages and liquid interactions on overhead projections (photo above). You can see his artwork on flickr or follow him on fb.

Tonight we talked about his methods and recent graphic experiments, which he hopes to one day connect with music in analogue synergy. It turns out our musical tastes a sizeable common ground, from psychedelics to post-punk, experimental electronics and hip-hop. Conversation also turned to the wonders of but does it float and the visionary CRT TV feedback experiments of Korean artist Nam June Paik.
▶ Skip to 1:47

AL QUETZ Kalakuta
AL QUETZ Herb from the Kingdom of Saba
WOODEN SHJIPS Lights Out (PEAKING LIGHTS rmx)
TORO Y MOI Talamak
ARTHUR RUSSELL Calling Out of Context
LUKID Wonder Years
MUX MOOL Wax Rose Saturday (Remux Edit)

Talking with G.K.

SHOGUN KUNITOKI Vinonaamakasio
SHOGUN KUNITOKI Mulberg
FLYING LOTUS Raw Cartoons #5 aka Melbourne Marvels #7
TEEBS Cook, Clean, Pay the Rent (New House Version)
J DILLA Reckless Driving
ANIKA Yang Yang
ALOG Objects Began to Appear from the Future

120610 ep. 29 summer songs again

Someone should tell me term ain't over yet. Still celebrating the summer time with a dollop of lovely tunes to procrastinate to. From Vietnamese hip-hop to hispanic psychotropicalia, musical genius from the land of Chocolate and forgotten radio broadcasts from the City of Angels. All in all, a wonderful welcome for the sunny season. Nevermind the rain.
▶ Replay



EXILE Stay Tuned (here)
DIMLITE Firevomit (O.D.N.)
EL GUINCHO Bombay
PRINCE FATTY That Very Night in Dub ft. HOLLIE COOK
ONRA Relax in Mui Ne
CAN Vitamin C
GONJASUFI Sheep
FENNESZ Endless Summer
ALGO RITMICO Diamante Mandarin
FLYING LOTUS Raw Cartoons #8
EXILE Your Summer Song
MONO/POLY Glow
JONWAYNE Alice in Wonderland
MR. OIZO Bad Start


By the way, the 5th Felix Music Night is happening at Imperial College this Saturday.
It's going to be way cool.
You should totally join the party.
I learned to sing just for the occasion. My band is called Nipples.

20120527 ep. 28 Hallo Sommerzeit!

Back from exam limbo, on summer air. After spending a week in the park and sunshine this is all I have to play for myself. Songs for lie-ins and disappearing daylight. Some new, some unreleased, all pretty fine. Opening with a tune from the Liars' much anticipated WIXIW set to escape next month. Perhaps my highlights, a 13-minute psychotropic epic, Ice Cream On Concrete, and the criminally underrated Swiss multi-instrumentalist Dimlite. Also exhibiting cuts from the likes of Young Echo, Honest Jons, Brainfeeder and Stones Throw.
Just in time for the summertime.
▶ Replay



LIARS Nº1 Against the Rush
MOHAWK PARK Gasoline
HEATSICK Ice Cream on Concrete
EL KID Mud
VESSEL Images of Bodies
ACTRESS Ivy May Gilpin
DIMLITE Can't Get Used To Those
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS Ideal Home
JONTI Flesh of Morning
MONO/POLY Forest Dark