Live Review! Hypnotic Brass Ensemble

Hypnotic Brass Ensemble – Dingwalls, Camden – Wed 21/10/09

This comes from Jon Blackburn, one of our guys from the accounts department, who proves that not all accountants are squares.  The fact that he has taken the time to write this review is a testament to how good the band are, as Jon doesn’t really like any music that’s been written since the ’70s, despite not having been born until the ’80s.

10PM could seem like a late start for a Wednesday night but when the eight all-playing, all-rapping, all-dancing brothers complete with drummer hit the first chord it is well worth the wait.

 

Speech Debelle wins Mercury Music Prize

Photo nabbed from The Telegraph

The coveted industry award, which seems to go to decent acts most of the time, has this year been awarded to leftfield hip-hop rapper Speech Debelle.

You can read more about the awards from The Guardian, The Telegraph or The BBC, all of whom were probably there at the ceremony.  (I think my invite got lost in the post.)

A good yardstick of the calibre of her music is being signed to British hip-hop label Big Dada Records, being label mates with Roots Manuva, Dynamic Syncopation, Anti-Pop Consortium, Busdriver, cLOUDDEAD, Ty and loads more.

Big Dada is a subsidiary of Ninja Tune, another awesome label run by Coldcut featuring all sorts of acid-techno-jazz.  The have artists like Mr Scruff, The Herbaliser, Amon Tobin, The Cinematic Orchestra, Bonobo, Clifford Gilberto and loads more.  They are well worth checking out.

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On our stereo: Wed 12/08/09

Chris Garneau – Music For Tourists (Fargo)
Laid-back but somehow bouncy ambient alt-pop

Nightmares On Wax – Car Boot Soul (Warp)
Chilled out electro hip-hop jazz

Caribou – The Milk Of Human Kindness (The Leaf Label)
Psychedelic rock/hip-hop

Halou – Wiser (Nettwerk)
Experimental ambience with occasional hip-hop beats

Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly (Crammed Discs)
Beautiful down-beat indie alt-synth-bluegrass

Portico Quartet – Isla (Real World)
More from the hang-playing jazz band.  This one sounds a bit more ambient than the last one, and a bit darker

We Fell To Earth – We Fell To Earth (In Stereo)
Lo-fi other-worldly electronica

Benjamin Biolay – La Superbe (Naïve)
Upbeat francopop with smoky, husky vocals

Fact of the Day:
If you were to fall to earth from 1km or higher (assuming you are a skydiver in a free-fall position) you will reach terminal velocity, where the drag caused by air resistance will be equal to the gravitational force on your body, meaning your acceleration will be reduced to zero.  You will accelerate up to 120mph, or 55m/s.

V_t = terminal velocity
m = mass
g = acceleration due to gravity (approx 9.8 on most places on Earth)
C_d = drag co-efficient
ρ = density of the fluid the object is falling through
A = projected area of the object

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On our stereo: Tue 11/08/09

Justin Rutledge – The Devil On A Bench In Stanley Park (Six Shooter)
Broad ranging cinematic country

Buck 65 – Secret House Against The World (V2)
Fusion of Americana with hip-hop and dance stylings

RinneRadio – Pole Stars (Rockadillo)
Ambient percussive bizarretronica with choppy vocal samples

Pedro The Lion – Achilles Heel (Jade Tree)
Bouncy but lazy indie post-rock

Baddies – Do The Job (Medical)
Palatable, slightly punky spiky indie

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe – My Brother’s Keeper (Shanachie)
Smooth soul/R’n'B/hip-hop from Lenny Kravitz session saxophonist/flautist/vocalist

Ohio Players – Skin Tight / Fire (BGO)
Amalgamation of the ‘74 and ‘75 albums, from the days when funk bands were awesome

Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly (Crammed Discs)
Beautiful down-beat indie alt-bluegrass

Slint – Spiderland (Touch and Go)
Moody and beautiful album from the fathers of post-rock

Fact of the Day:
The V2 (Vergeltungswaffe-2), was the world’s first  ballistic missile and the first human artefact to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight, paving the way for future spaceflight.  However, an estimated 20,000 inmates died in the process of constructing them at the labour camp Mittelbau-Dora – according to v2rocket.com, more people died as a result of their production than their deployment.

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On our stereo: Fri 07/08/09

Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Good Morning Susie Sohø (Superstudio)
Jazz from the school of ‘what the hell are they doing to that instrument?’ taking influences from rock and electronica.

Madrugada – Grit (EMI)
Like Iggy Pop but Norwegian.

Dieselhed – Tales Of A Brown Dragon (Amarillo)
Experimental light country/post-rock

Calvin Richardson – Facts Of Life – The Soul Of Bobby Womack (Shanachie)
Smooth soul/R&B (the new kind, not the old one) tribute to Bobby Womack.

The McPeake Family – Wild Mountain Tyme (Topic)
Traditional music from Belfast, featuring three generations from the family.

Daddy – For A Second Time (Cedar Creek)
Bluesy country soul (from Bobby Womack to Tommy Womack).

The New Wave Of Traditional Metal – Various Artists (Classic Rock Magazine)
Covermount of the hilariousest hair-metal you’ll ever hear.

Unidos Por El Flow – Latin Kings, Ñetas y Jóvenes de Barcelona (K Industria)
Fairly laid-back Spanish hip-hop.  (I’ve no idea what they’re talking about though)

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On our stereo: Thu 06/08/09

Dub Colossus – Return To Addis (Real World)
Remix EP of the Ethiopian/English dub collective

Joyce & Tutty Moreno – Samba Jazz & Outras Bossas (Far Out)
Stylistically speaking, as per the title.  Although they neglected to include “Awesome,” which it is

Candi Staton – His Hands (Honest Jons)
A powerful soul singer whose career recently reached a peak when she played Croydon Festival (this reviewer is from Croydon)

Bob Holroyd – re : cycled | re : visited | re : mastered (Long Tale)
Diverse album featuring gamelan, flamenco, classical and techno styles

RinneRadio – Pole Stars (Rockadillo)
Ambient percussive bizarretronica with choppy vocal samples

Esbjörn Svensson Trio – Good Morning Susie Sohø (Superstudio)
Jazz from the school of ‘what the hell are they doing to that instrument?’

We Fell To Earth – We Fell To Earth (In Stereo)
Lo-fi other-worldly electronica

Cinematic Orchestra – Everyday (Ninja Tune)
Cinematic (as the name would suggest) epic hip-hop/funk/jazz

Hope Sandoval – Through The Devil Softly (Nettwerk)
Ethereal, downbeat acoustic guitaring and singing.  Available late September (when i really should be back at school)

Fact of the Day:
Luminiferous aether (or ether) was once believed to be a medium or substance that light travels through. Then quantum physics got involved and things got a lot more complicated.

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On our stereo: Thu 16/07/09

Inneke23 & The Lipstick Painters – Charcoal (CoraZong)
Rolling country-infused rock from Belgium

Kate Rogers Band – Beauregard (Kate Rogers)
Slightly odd pop with moments of folkiness and interesting production

Netsayi – Monkey’s Wedding (World Connection)
Diverse multi-cultural influences on the musical backdrop accompany the versatile singer

Bonobo - Animal Magic (Ninja Tune)
Ambient instrumental hip-hop

Radiohead - Airbag/How Am I Driving? (Capitol)
Alternative indie-rock, from before they went totally wacko

Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
Wistful, melodic, acoustic album that makes you feel like a small person in a big universe

Echaskech – Shatterproof (Just Music)
Squelchy, spacey electro with a robot singer

Curtis Mayfield – Super Fly (Snapper)
A re-issue of the classic soul soundtrack with a couple of bonus tracks and radio spots.  More about the film here

Fact Of The Day:
Here at Proper Distribution we take our distribution seriously.  We are in the CD business of course and we wouldn’t be anywhere without our customers (the record shops) but, courtesy of Radiohead’s website, i found this disturbing report on the newspaper and magazine distribution industry, which could have serious effects on small newsagents.

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On our stereo: Tue 14/07/09

My Latest Novel – Deaths and Entrances (Bella Union)
Lazy ambient indie post-rock

Darwin Song Project (Shrewsbury Folk Festival)
A folky celebration of 150 years of evolutionary theory and 200 years of its chief exponent

Dunkelbunt – Raindrops and Elephants (Piranha)
Quirky hip-hopin’ upbeat electro funk

7 Samurai – El Mundo Nuevo (Poets Club Records)
Hard-grooving soul salsa-funk

Tool – 10,000 Days (Volcano)
Dark prog-metal with one of the craziest CD packages ever

Dub Colossus – A Town Called Addis (Real World)
Stunning EP from the British/Ethiopian dub collective

Nigeria Rock Special – Various Artists (Soundway)
Awesome compilation of ’70s Nigerian psychedelic rock

Fact Of The Day:
I saw a cool documentary on TV recently called, “Did Darwin Kill God?” which argues that you can still believe in God and evolution, much like Darwin did.  I’ve found it, split into episodes, on YouTube; you can watch part 1 here then follow the links.

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http://www.myspace.com/7samuraimusic

 

On our stereo: Mon 13/07/09

We’ve had these delights today:

Dennis Brown – The Best Of: The Niney Years (Heartbeat)
This collection follows Brown’s career from mid-70’s to early 90s – true reggae classics

Mr Scruff – Trouser Jazz (Ninja Tune)
Quirky electro-funk hip-pop

The Twilight Singers – Play Blackberry Belle (One Little Indian)
Lo-fi orchestral alt-indie

Idlewild - Hope is Important (Food)
Nineties pop-punk, featuring Woomble before his DMW days

Roots of Soul – Various Artists (Not Now Music)
Features Ray Charles, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, The Four Tops, Aretha Franklin and loads more, therefore is awesome

Grant Green – Live at Club Mozambique (Blue Note)
Smooth funk-jazz record with some pretty hot solos

Fact Of The Day:
Reet Petite by Jackie Wilson is the best song in the world.  Ever.  Isn’t it?

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