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.

 

Live Review! Portico Quartet

Portico Quartet – Rough Trade East, London – Wed 21/10/09

Click to enlarge (Photo: Dom Jones)

It’s always a pleasure to visit either Rough Trade store, one of the last bastions of successful independent record dealership in London.  The delight is somewhat amplified when a great band is playing there, such was the case last night.  Having had prior arrangements every time Portico Quartet have played near me since i first heard of them, this show was much anticipated given that i was actually available to watch them.

 

New Properganda! Issue 14

Many of our readers will be familiar with our magazine, Properganda.  In fact, visitors to this blog may not know that it was from our magazine that this blog was spawned.  For the benefit of the latter, you can read more about it on our Properganda Magazine page.

Properganda 14 - Nov/Dec '09

 

New Releases! Mon 19/10/09

An avalanche of new releases heads your way today, although instead of being a fearsome, deadly force of snow it is a considerably less life-threatening cascade of CDs which don’t actually physically move towards you or cause you any harm but which you will probably want to listen to instead.

Portico Quartet - Isla

 

New Releases! Mon 12/10/09

A barrage of new releases tumble threateningly towards you today including, but not limited to:

Shooglenifty - Murmichan

 

New Releases! Mon 05/10/09

If our new releases were a bunch of fantastic records released by a range of fantastic independent record labels and available from a range of fantastic independent record shops then they would… oh, hang on, they are.  Some examples:

Tumbélé! - Various Artists

 

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: Fri 14/08/09

Iron Maiden – Rock In Rio (EMI)
Live album from ’80s screech metal band (Unfortunately we had to turn this off as the CD was scratched)

Les Paul & Mary Ford – Greatest Hits (Primo)
Jazz/blues guitar maestro plays a mean guitar and then multi-tracks it and speeds it up.  (Some people in the office found this annoying but i think it’s unfathomably awesome)

Golden Smog – Blood On The Slacks (Lost Highway)
Not as good as Les Paul

fun. – Aim And Ignite (Nettwerk)
Quirky synth-pop

The Storys – Town Beyond The Trees Special Edition (Angel Air)
Delectable indie-pop

Engineers – Three Fact Fader (KScope)
Slow-burning electronic rock

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

Fact of the Day:
I once tried to play the Iron Maiden drinking game.  The idea is that you watch a live Iron Maiden video / DVD and you have to drink every time Bruce Dickinson punches the air.  I lasted about 2 minutes.

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Les Paul: 9th June 1915 – 13th August 2009

World-renowned guitarist and recording pioneer Les Paul has died, aged 94.

(Photo: Colin Archer)

As well as being a superb guitarist, whose signature electric guitar is still one of the most iconic and popular electric guitars in production, he was also responsible for the advent of multi-track recording, a process which has revolutionised recorded music and has become the de facto method of recording for many musical styles.

More in-depth obituaries can be found courtesy of The Guardian, The Telegraph, Rolling Stone, The BBC, The New York Times and The NME.

A Les Paul Gold Top electric guitar

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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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