Seriously. Remember this video? Who knew?

(Fat Boy Slim – Weapon of choice)

Thanks to everyone who made it down to the Ben Brown opening show on Friday past. The biggest crowd we’ve had on a solo show! Photos will soon be uploaded to our Facebook and Flickr pages. The exhibition runs until November 17th.

For anyone who cant make it to the gallery, we have uploaded a selection of Edition Prints by Ben Brown for purchase on our store. Only 15 of each print available.

Det var en solig sommareftermiddag i Västervik. Familjen Mickelsson gick på stadens biograf för att se den nya Harry Potter. Men redan innan filmen börjat kom en överraskning. Trailern för Where the wild things are. Filmatiseringen av en tydligen väldigt populär barnbok. Ska jag skämmas för att jag aldrig hört talas om den?

Jag har glömt bort det lite måste jag erkänna, även om jag sa till mig själv att jag skulle kolla upp det så fort jag kom hem, då både jag, Henrik och Emma log stora indie-leenden när trailern var slut.

Varför denna lilla barnfilm kommer vara så bra

1. Vilken film som helst som har en trailer som ackompanjeras av Wake up med Arcade fire måste vara grym.

2. Soundtracket till filmen har gjorts av ingen mindre än Yeah Yeah Yeahs-Karen O. Så samtliga låtar är skrivna/utförda av Karen O & the kids. Att det just är Karen O som gör detta kan dessutom få symbolisera att det går att vara vän med sitt ex. Fint Det talas även om att Karen O ska inleda ett soloprojekt så kanske är detta starten på detta?

3. Spike Jonze har regisserat, och förutom strålande filmen Being John Malkovich har ju faktiskt herrn även regisserat Praise you OCH Weapon of choice by Fat boy slim.

Det får räcka så. Denna kombination av fantastiskt duktiga människor bör inte kunna gå fel. Men visst. Jag kanske får äta upp denna hyllningsceremoni senare när jag sett filmen och besviken får säga att musiken var det enda som fanns där. Men det tar vi då. Just nu tänker jag leva i förhoppningen om att den kommer förgylla mitt liv.

Hyllning

Opens 6pm Friday 23rd October The National Grid Gallery. 24 Chard Road, Brookvale NSW 2100
Exhibition runs from 23.10.2009 – 19.11.2009

Gallery is open Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm and Saturdays 12pm – 3pm
If these times do not suit, please feel free to give us a call and make an appointment.


Ben Brown was born with super thermo x-ray vision which, naturally enough, lead to an obsessive relationship with skulls & bones. He has worked for a mixed variety of clients for over twenty years. His commissions range across publishing, clothing apparel and the music industry. He has designed an extensive range of music posters for performers like Silverchair, nirvana, fat boy slim, Frenzal rhomb and the hoodoo gurus, as well as events including the Big Day Out, Good Vibrations Festival, Homebake, the falls festival and others. He contributes a regular comic strip to notorious surfing publication ‘stab’, and provides illustration for many other titles. Ben also creates graphics to cover all manner of clothing for clients like Insight, Mambo, Globe, O’Neill, Rip Curl, Ocean & Earth, Nice produce and Supply. 

April Showers - Abandon Ship (with superb orchestration by Anne Dudley)

Jonathan Bernstein and Beatrice Colin together formed April Showers – a fleetingly brilliant Glaswegian pop duo who released just one single “Abandon Ship” on Big Star, a subsidiary of Chrysalis in 1984.  It quickly gained a cult following due to its sparkling production from Anne Dudley (Art of Noise) and string-heavy arrangements. This quality was echoed on B-side “Everytime We Say Goodbye” with the 12-inch featuring an instrumental of Abandon Ship “Abandon Ship Sing-A-Long-A-Wonder Mix”. Due to its rarity and the presence of Anne Dudley this record is now highly sought after – good job I recognised its quality back in 1984! Both vocal version and instrumental are included in the compilation below. 

In converting some rare Eighties vinyl to CD I thought it would be churlish of me not to share some of this hidden treasure. Where tracks are easily obtained via download sites or on CD compilations I haven’t included them. Hence Nick Neyward’s ‘instrumental version of ‘Whistle down the wind’ is included here because the vocal version is easy to obtain.

The instrumental 96.8 is on the B side of ‘The Highest High’ by China Crisis (1985), the year that I launched a Saturday afternoon sports show on Worthing Hospital radio and used this piece of music as its theme. It still sounds great to my ears – and is absolutely unavailable anywhere else.

The Secret Seven are so obscure that they do not have an entry on Last FM – but the 12″ mix of ‘Hold onto Love’ is an eighties favourite of mine – all glorious 7 minutes of it with sumptuous string arrangements and the signature programmed drum sound of the time.

Another favourite of mine was Virgin Dance – part of the thriving Liverpool scene that produced The Teardrop Explodes and others. The quintet consisted of Edwin Hind (vocals & guitar), Kenny Dougan (guitar), Lorraine Gardner (keyboards), Graham McMaster (bass) and Cliff Hewitt (drums, previously in Modern Eon). Led by vocalist Edwin Hind, the band released one album, “Against the Tide”, and scored one indie hit, “Are You Ready (For That Feeling)?” which is included here in both its 7″ and 12″ guises.

‘Weak in the presence of Beauty’ by Floy Joy was later covered by Alison Moyet but this version has the thrill and the passion of its writers in full flow.

Blow Up despite the name were nothing to do with the 60s film of the same name although they derived their name from it.  The title of the track suggests they had Brighton roots and that was where I was living at the time, which is how Norman Cook who was working in Rounder Records in The Lanes, Brighton at the time managed to convince me to buy it. I have never regretted it. Norman (Quentin in those days) always did have great taste.

White & Torch were a Walker Brothers for the Eighties and ‘Parade’ is simply superb, both in vocal performance and arrangement – majestic sounding even now.

1. April Showers – Abandon Ship (12″)

2. April Showers – Abandon Ship (12″ instr)

3. Blow Up – Pool Valley

4. China Crisis – 96.8

5. Floy Joy – Weak in the presence of beauty

6. Mondo Kane – New York Afternoon

7. Nick Heyward – Whistle down the wind (12″ instr)

8. Sivuca – Ain’t no sunshine (12″)

9. Sophie & Peter Johnston – Happy Together

10. The Beautiful Americans – Beautiful Americans (12″)

11. The Secret Seven – Hold onto love (12″)

12. Two People – This is the shirt (12″)

13. Virgin Dance – Are you ready for that feeling? (7″)

14. Virgin Dance – Are you ready for that feeling? (12″)

15. White and Torch – Parade (12″)

Here they are:

 http://rapidshare.com/files/275750038/Eighties.zip

Sencillamente genial las presentaciones de Lily Allen en el V Festival, gran festival que se celebró el 23 y 24 de agosto en el Reino Unido con artistas de la talla de:

• Oasis
• The Killers
• The Ting Tings
• Keane
• Snow Patrol
• Katy Perry
• Fat Boy Slim

Bestes vid aller Zeiten?

After a few unhappy comments on my last post about the inevitable invasion of minimal/tribal/tech house, which were actually expected, its probably best we give you some hugeness! You may have to get used to more minimal posts, seeing as us wizards actually quite like it now. But if you think we’re going soft on ya, well then…….you’re very wrong! Wobble and bass is in our veins and we’ll never grow tired of it! Constant bangers will be posted, and here’s a few which I’m loving at the moment.

First two tracks from electro wobbler Sticky K, both worthy of any dirty dancefloor. ‘The Testament of Dr. Mabuse’ sways towards the wobble side with a rhythmic bass synth and a fidgety beat. On the other hand ‘Alphaville’ is a horror film electro banger.

STICKY K – THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE

STICKY K – ALPHAVILLE

New Jack Beats remix here of guess who, La Roux. This is proper old school Jack Beats , with a definate tinge of their legendary remix of AC Slater’s ‘Jack Got Jacked’, but they also incorporate La Roux’s undoubtedly brilliant voice in the build ups and bridges. The main bassline rhythm is a classic, but certainly nothing new.

LA ROUX – I’M NOT YOUR TOY (JACK BEATS REMIX)

Joker’s on fire at the moment, producing dubstep that is actually pleasant to listen to. No chugging metallic bass (don’t get me wrong, we love hyper dub!). I’m loving this track, warm yet warped bass combined with Mario/Crystal Castles-esque synths creating a groovy dub instrumental.

JOKER – DIGIDESIGN

More dub, but on a different level completely. I didn’t know that there was a Lopside EP by Stagga released a few months back. I downloaded the title track expecting greatness and that’s exactly what I got. This track is all over the place, hence ‘Lopside’, with Stagga’s signature sound pitch bending till your brain melts alongside a chilled beat thanks to the clever use of a ride cymbal.

STAGGA – LOPSIDE

Another man with a particularly superb signature sound is Gtronic. Along with his dirty dirty bass grinding along, there’s some very pleasant synth and vocal melodies in this remix of Heads We Dance’s ‘Sirens’.

HEADS WE DANCE – SIRENS (GTRONIC REMIX)

Rico Tubbs is a man on form. We loved ‘Cutty’ which we posted a few weeks ago. Usual use of a funky disco feel, topped off with his brilliantly created wobbly bassline.

RICO TUBBS – HIP RAVE ANTHEM

This next tune is a real journey. A massive build up including syncopating bongos, interesting effects on the vocals and great production climaxing to a short period of crazy ravy synths.

RQM – BARELY EVIL (BASS WEAZAL VOCAL MIX)

Ha! An absolute classic original track which is Fat Boy Slim’s ‘Right Here, Right Now’ is confidently remixed by Trumpdisco, staying true to the original and bringing it into 2009 by remixing it as an excellent electro banger.

FAT BOY SLIM – RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW (TRUMPDISCO REMIX)

Afrojack has already impressed us with his remix of Silvio Ecomo and Chuckie’s ‘Moombah’ which is probably my tribal house anthem so far this year. His latest remix of Kid Cudi’s collabroation with Kanye West’s ‘Make Her Say’, is more fidgety with a solid beat and bending synths, but he still brings a tribal feel with bongos and cowbells.

KID CUDI FT. KANYE WEST – MAKE HER SAY (AFROJACK REMIX)

Finally we have quite an old tune from Foamo, but a classic none the less. Probably one of his more original and experimental tunes with use of strange ascending bass synths with a few wobbles here and there.

FOAMO – WARDANCE

Zitat vor Wochen und Monaten: “Dieses Jahr fahr ich nicht zur sms, komm da ja erst den Abend vorher ausm Urlaub wieder und will eher mal was Neues emtdecken. Also auf KEINEN Fall!”

…und dann hab ich mich doch überreden lassen Überreden lassen zu 3 Tagen auf der 13. sonnemondsterne, zu 3 Tagen mit einer verrückten, bunten Truppe, zu 3 Tagen Spaß und Unsinn pur. Und natürlich zu jede Menge Musik.

Los gings Freitag morgens um 10  mit dem gemieteten 9-Sitzer. Perfekte Rahmenbedingungen: Blauer Himmel, 30 Grad und Sonne pur. Daran sollte sich das Wochenende über auch nicht wesentlich viel ändern. Nach einer staureichen, aber dennoch sehr lustigen Hinfahrt (dank der geöffneten Seitentür) erreichten wir gegen 17 Uhr die schöne Bleilochtalsperre in Thüringen. Rauf aufn Campingplatz – schön auf den Ruhigen am Ende der Welt. (Leider hatten wir dann die ganzen Tage irgendwelche Vollhonks über uns, die uns mit Lärm aller (un)denkbaren Arten bedachten… nun ja, thats life festival)

Ich weiß nicht ob es von den Veranstaltern absichtlich so geplant war, oder ob sie einfach eine eigene Art von Humor haben: The Prodigy und Deichkind auf der Mainstage direkt hintereinander. 2,5 Stunden. Tödlich! Im Grunde genommen sitze ich JETZT noch mit Schmerzen hier beim Schreiben dieses Blogs – nur wegen dieser 2,5 Stunden. 5. Reihe direkt in der Mitte, genau im gröbsten Schlammassel.  Dabei waren beide Acts nicht mal überragend: gerade von Prodigy hatte ich mir schon etwas mehr Abwechslung gewünscht. Die Stimmung dagegen war unvergesslich. Und dann auch noch Deichkind: Und endlich – beim 5. Liveauftritt hab ich auch mal die Bühnenshow wahrgenommen War incl. der unglaublichen Menge an Federn wieder ein sehr witziger Auftritt – mehr jedoch auch nicht. Hier ein Videozusammenschnitt von Prodigy und Deichkind:

Danach ein Blick bei Booka Shade, die genau das abliefern, was man von ihnen erwartet und kennt – und damit immer noch den ganzen Maincircus in ein Tollhaus verwandeln. Ich mehr oder weniger anwesend. Überlegung im Stehen zu schlafen.

Doch wir sind ja bei sms, schlafen ist später angesagt und weiter gings: Erst mit Richie Hawtin, wo schon das Intro überzeugte, und dann zwischen 4 und 7 Uhr an der “Beach Bar”. Die perfekte Location: sehr gute Musik von unbekannten Acts, Sandstrand direkt am Wasser,  großes Lagerfeuer (!), und dazu langsam aber sicher der Sonnenaufgang über der Talsperre. Dazu eine ausgedehnte Einführung in die grandiose Wirkung von Jägermeister: zur allgemeinen Belustigung vieler Besucher never forget! (Das war übrigens so gut da, dass wir Sven Väths Stinkefinger-Abgang nach technischen Problemen gar nicht mitbekommen haben..hehe)

Wir landeten schließlich wieder an der Mainstage: es ist kurz vor 8 Uhr morgens, es ist schon lange hell. Und die Überraschung des Abends Morgens: Hier wird gute Musik gespielt und der DJ oben heißt Felix Kröcher. Ob da jemand erwachsen geworden ist? Anstatt “Uffze Uffze auf die Fresse-Musik ohne Sinn und Logik” wie ich es von ihm kenne, spielt er hier ein grundsolides Techno-Set: nicht schlecht. Gut für den letzten Rest Kraft in uns. Denn danach gings zurück zum Zelt – aber nicht schlafen: Das Schlauchboot wurde fertig gemacht und so gings gegen 10 Uhr wieder runter zur Talsperre. Sonnenbrand holen, erholen von der Nacht, rum-treiben lassen und schließlich mit dem Boot am Festivalgelände ankommen, wo immer noch gefeiert und gechillt wird. Toll! Wir nutzen die Pause um “Banane” zu fahren: Das war zwar extrem lustig – sollte man vielleicht in unserem Zustand aber nicht unbedingt empfehlen

Samstags nachmittag passiert auch dann nicht mehr viel: Rest des Tages wird irgendwie rum-gebracht, gegrillt und wieder fertiggemacht für das Gelände. Captain Morgan war wieder ein guter Kapitän! Ahoi! Geschlafen habe ich immer noch nicht.

Auf dem Gelände treffe ich eine gute Entscheidung: Während meine komplette Truppe Mia und Peter Fox sehen will und sich in den wieder mal viel zu vollen Mainstagebereich reindrängelt, entschließe ich mich allein ins Cocoon-tent zu gehen. Hier bin ich die nächsten 3 Stunden bei Onur Özer und Johannes Heil (live), und das sollte mein musikalisches Highlight des Wochenendes werden: Bei gefühlten 50 Grad und 100% Luftfeuchtigkeit kann ich gar nicht mehr aufhören zu tanzen: wunderbare, treibende Sets: Das ist Techno 2009, sehr sehr geil! Ich bin immer noch begeistert – war aber nach diesen Stunden auch völlig im Eimer und nassgeschwitzt. Zum großen Feuerwerk haben wir uns dann erstmal an den Strand gehauen und eine kleine Pause eingelegt ,)

Danach war schon Zeit für Fat Boy Slim, den eigentlichen Headliner des Festivals. Norman Cook lieferte das wofür man ihn kennt und bucht: perfektes Mixing zwischen Klassikern aus allen Bereichen, eigenen Hits und ein bisschen Blödsinn. War schon ne gute Show. (Mich persönlich nervts nur, wenn ein DJ vorne auf der Bühne rumspringt und klatscht und hinten der Mix läuft, und dann trotzdem so tut, als wäre es live…so zu tun ist irgendwie dämlich!) Wir waren zwischendrin aber nochmal bei den Turntablerockern, um dort den König zu sehen: Den König der Assitänzer. Den König aller Assicontests. Den Sieger aller irrsinnigen, peinlichen Aktionen. Ich glaube über diese wenigen Minuten werde ich noch als alter Mann lachen Danke dafür!

Für mich war nach den letzten 30 Minuten Fat Boy Slim auch Schluss mit sms x3: Es ging einfach nix mehr

Ein wiedermal schönes Festival-Wochenende an der Bleilochtalsperre: perfektes Wetter, gute Acts, und sehr viel Spaß. Zu kritisieren gibt es wie in jedem Jahr die Situation der sanitären Anlagen, das ist wirklich untragbar, und die extrem nervige Anreisesituation auf den Campingplatz. So hat jedes Festival seine Nachteile – die Vorteile bei sonnemondsterne überwiegen aber dennoch. Danke für ein tolles Wochenende…

]]> http://babulyo.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/istanbuldan-fat-boy-slim-gecti/ Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:33:00 +0000 Cem Birol http://babulyo.wordpress.com/2009/08/03/istanbuldan-fat-boy-slim-gecti/ http://dessertordisaster.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/ive-got-friends-in-all-the-right-places/ Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:12:04 +0000 liv hauck http://dessertordisaster.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/ive-got-friends-in-all-the-right-places/

Gathering crowds, vibrating in a purely euphoric state (mostly) due to thumping beats and entertaining music makers.

Knowing that our bodies are capable of rapid change and healing.

I have been soaking up as many dance classes as I can recently. Reggaeton (above) with Dianna, Hip Hop with Virg (featured in the great vid below) and Zumba are my current favs!! Of course hoop dance will always be my true love!!

Connections with creative, talented and positive beings.

For years I was totally hopeless with balancing asana in my yoga practice. I’d wobble, fall over and enviously look at others, wondering why I couldn’t do what they did.

Then some time ago, wobbling through Natarajasana (dancer pose) I had a realisation that changed everything… You’re not just trying to balance on one leg – you need to stabilise yourself by engaging every little piece of your body!

Oh! Seems so obvious in retrospect, but for some reason I really didn’t get that, until I did.

In turn, this taught me something important about life, in a very practical (not theoretical) way: Nothing in our lives is disconnected. Nothing.

Funnily enough, I’ve had this realisation many times – during meditation, from reading books and listening to dozens of lectures on the matter too.

Seems we don’t get it, until we do. Nothing is disconnected.

We’ve come a long long way together
Through the hard times and the good
I have to celebrate you baby
I have to praise you like I should
~Fat Boy Slim

For those of us consciously trying to heal our inner wounds, with our fragmented selves desperately trying to keep up… we’re often so busy focusing on the trauma, it’s hard to see the bigger picture.

Just for now though, I’m taking a bird’s eye view, trying to see the lay of the land, so to speak.

Why? Well, today marks the first birthday of Svasti! Hip-hip-hooray!!

To quote my last post, this blog grew as something of an impulse – a very strong desire to save my sanity. A much needed space to expel the violence, sadness and struggles I’d been dealing with all alone. Screaming into cyberspace seemed like a good idea, and I was right.

Blogging I’ve found… is sort of like travelling the world with an entirely different perspective. Instead of seeing museums and temples and the like, I find myself surveying the inner workings of people’s minds all ‘round the world.

In the process, I’ve made a lot of friends and learned plenty about myself and others.

Such as: There’s no simple cure to PTSD or depression. And there’s peaks and troughs to recovery. The peaks make me feel like I’m finally getting somewhere. The troughs make me feel like checking out of Hotel de Life.

Healing is not a one-shot deal. There’s no magic pill to solve all my ills, or anyone else’s. But the more we express, the better it gets (in the long run, if not straight away).

And given human nature is how it is, we find resonance in each other’s words. We discover we aren’t alone. We’re all connected. So, what we write can benefit others. That’s a good thing!

But I’ve also learned the assault I started writing about was only a small part of the story – a kind of bookend really, to a certain era of my life. An era I’m learning I need to write about. That’s all connected, too.

In the last twelve months I’ve: started therapy, quit a stable (but soul-destroying job), spent five weeks in spiritual retreat, conquered the worst of my PTSD symptoms (although I’m far from symptom-free), gained and lost another job, had a second niece arrive, found new friends, started yoga teacher training and struggled with a very morbid attack of depression. And I’ve spent the better part of this year unemployed, surviving on a fraction of what I usually earn.

Seems I’ve been shedding one skin after the other, kinda like an onion and with just as many tears.

But none of it is disconnected, I’m convinced of that. Where we’re at is a result of where we’ve been. There’s no plot device that led me down this path.

Gotta say this much – it’s a glorious place from which to find my balance in life, and I know I can do it.

So, here’s to the next twelve months in my/everyone else’s journey.

And thanks everyone for reading!

~Svasti

Hey.  Have to give another handclap to Gizmodo today, as they’ve posted a nice collection of “10 of the Geekiest Music Videos of All Time.”  The Beastie Boys, Fat Boy Slim, Michael Jackson, and Weird Al are on the list so make sure and check it out.  To add to their list, I immediately thought of the following video which isn’t really pro-geek at all, but I suspect the alcoholics in Red Fang probably still have a little closeted love for the Darkon crowd.  This is “Prehistoric Dog” and it’s also one of the funniest/disgusting videos you’ll run across these days:

And then there’s “12:51″, the extremely geeky ode to Tron from the Strokes.  Good song, great video concept – so good apparently Sony doesn’t want anyone to embed it.  So hit the link and give it a spin:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BRnRIXuzMw

There you have it.  I’m on a plane tomorrow, so enjoy your weekend.  More Monday…

The BPA ft David Byrne & Dizzee Rascal – ToeJam

Greatest use of censorship bars EVER.

Big beat music is probably the most widely known style of electronic-based music in America. Groups such as the chemical Brothers, fat boy Slim, the Crystal method, and the prodigy are all pioneers of big beat.

Obviously it is a wide genre of electronic music. However it does have the few defining characteristics. Fast, heavy, distorted and punk influenced pop, jazz, techno and rock sounds along with psychedelic music influences characterize the style. Obviously certain groups, and artists were influenced more strongly by some more than others.

Fat boy Slim is more funky. The prodigy are more punk. The Chemical Brothers and the Crystal method are more techno.

Creating big beat in acid music studio is all about big sound. The drums should be distorted and loud. Vocals should have a punk edge, and also be distorted. Intense bass lines and synthesizer loops are also characteristic of the style.

Fast drops of elements, explosive addition or return of elements, wind and droning noises and extreme work in the stereo field are also common.

This is style of electronic-based music I first got into. The prodigy’s ‘fat of the land’ album is still a favorite.

Try to assemble a collection of odd noises. Record tools banging, power tools running, and try spinning a mic at the end of its cord to get some weird wind noise.

Pick a general style to base the song on. Punk, Funk techno, anything. Pick something you are comfortable with.

Then push it. Make the Drums the focal point. Use the other elements to compliment the beat and throb of the bass. Rather than using the beat and bass to pace the other elements.

Try using effects you don’t normally use, or ways you normally don’t use them.

A common technique in Big Beat is starting with a repeating instrument hook, then bringing the beat on strong.

Big Beat tends to make a lot of use of the add one element at a time technique. Meaning you build the sound over the course of a minute or so, by adding in one element, letting it ride a few seconds, then adding another.

IDM / Down Tempo Music Video: I AM GORE
Learn to Make music and Promote it

Follow Me On Twitter