Just found out that The Streets’ ‘Original Pirate Material’ has been voted album of the decade in The Guardian. Which reminded me of an interview I did with Mike Skinner back in the day. I was a budding music journalist at the time in London. It must have been circa 2002.

I remember first hearing the single ‘Original Pirate Material’ – it’s one of those songs that stands out. It reminded me of an English version of Eminem’s ‘Stan’. But it spoke to me in my language and with UK beats and flavour. He came out of the 2 step UK garage scene. He’s a poet. And a really nice ‘geezer’ as we walked around Shepherd’s Bush Market and had a couple of pints afterwards. Happy days!

Jamie Treays is a national treasure, only no one realises it yet. He’s smart, wily and witty, and is all the best bits of The Clash rolled into one rat-faced, half-cut Wimbledon marauder. ‘Sticks ‘N’ Stones’ was going to be the record that did it; the first fruits of a difficult second album (so difficult he made it twice) and a boisterous tune blessed with at least two different choruses along with a serious treatise on the ideal circumstances for a “crap”. Forgive the unlikely compliment, but it’s Mike Skinner gone plastic punk.

And did the record do it? Was it T’s big break? Barely. Just another No.15 hit. You should take a long, hard look at yourselves. When she’d finished pogoing (a natural response, even to the plastic variety), Junior took a long, hard look at the sleeve and declared Jamie “green”. And that’s not all: he even “sounds green, like a tree.”

Let’s go out and find some trouble:

The building was watching her out of the corner of its eye; the street was long enough to allow her to turn her back on her home.

Kestrel House, City Road, Islington, N1

But as she journeyed further, she arched her back.

Kestrel House, City Road, Islington, N1

She could feel a dotted line of sight that travelled directly from the sheer walls of the darkened tower behind her and run down the bumps in her spine.

The Streets' Original Pirate Material, Kestrel House, City Road, Islington, N1

She knew the gaze did not peer from the building itself but from the windows that littered its facing side.

Bad Ass rapper Giggs has teamed up with “The Streets” front man Mike Skinner to create one of the soundest urban tunes of 2009.  Now because this article explains Giggs better than i could ever dream of doing myself and because I’m extremely lazy  you can read about him here. What surprises me the most about Giggs is his extremely deep tone of voice which sets no correlation with recent Rap times, but this song is great and with the slightly irritating vocals of Mike Skinner ascending like a dickless ghost, he may (HE IS) in for a hit here, even though it may not hit mainstream.  Looking forward to the next instalment from this guy.

Giggs Ft Mike Skinner – Slow Songs — Score 9/10

Pilotando la Chevy Silverado nº 4 de su propio equipo, Kevin Harvick ha concluido la temporada de la mejor manera posible. Además de llevarse la victoria en la Ford 200, disputada en el Homestead-Miami Speedway, logrando de esta manera el campeonato de constructores de la Camping World Truck Series, Harvick es también propietario de la Chevy Silverado nº 33, que se llevó el campeonato de pilotos con Ron Hornaday la semana pasada.

Justo después del reinicio de un sprint final de 3 vueltas, Harvick adelantaba a Timothy Peters y se hacía con la primera posición, que no abandonaría hasta ver la bandera a cuadros.

Esta victoria aseguraba también al equipo Kevin Harvick Inc. el titulo de constructores, complementado con la octava plaza de Hornaday, campeón de las Truck Series desde la semana pasada en Phoenix.

- “Sabíamos que teníamos que salir y batir a Kyle (Busch)” – declaraba Harvick en relación a su lucha con Billy Ballew por el campeonato de constructores. – “Sabíamos que Hornaday debía correr de manera segura y hacer lo que necesitaba hacer para el campeonato de constructores.”

- “Nuestra meta era salir a liderar el máximo de vueltas y ganar la carrera.” – decía un exultante Harvick al final.
Este triunfo es el segundo consecutivo de Harvick, tras el logrado la semana pasada en Phoenix, y es el tercero en sus 6 participaciones en las Truck Series de este año.

La clasificación final del campeonato de pilotos ha terminado, como ya hemos dicho, con Ron Hornaday como campeón, seguido por Matt Crafton, segundo, y Mike Skinner tercero.

Todd Bodine y Colin Braun han completado el Top5.

La próxima carrera de la Camping World Truck Series se disputará el 12 de febrero de 2010 en el Daytona International Speedway.

Got a cool little track from Joker called Digidesign. Dubstep in a simple, pretty minimal from, with some deep bass, then some oriental type strings come in and give a different flavour. Liking Joker a lot the moment, producing some wicked records and remixes. This is that more stripped back less “commercial” dubstep sound.

Joker – Digidesign

Now got some House turned Dubstep from Micky Slim. The track is “Skank Out” remixed by Kovu. Love this track, its that almost clubstep sound, with those big build ups ending in huge dutty drops, just love that sound. This needs to be heard up loud on some proper speakers to get the full effect of that deep rumbling bass. Have a listen and you will know what I’m talking about.

Micky Slim – Skank Out (Kovu Dubstep Remix)

Last one here is a bit of an old one and I’ve only just heard it. Its a dubstep remix from Marco Del Horno of the Giggs and Mike Skinner track “Slow Songs”. I was a big fan of the original in the summer and needless to say this remix beefs this track up a bit. I like what the Rinse FM DJ has done to it chopping up the vocals a bit and making it more of a track you could hear on a night out. Worth having to see what you think, I recommend it.

Giggs ft. Mike Skinner – Slow Song (Marco Del Horno Dubstep Remix)

Un empujón de Aric Almirola en el último cuarto de milla, ha permitido a Kyle Busch lograr la victoria en la Mountain Dew 250, carrera de la Camping World Truck Series disputada el pasado sábado en el Talladega Superspeedway.

Pilotando para el equipo de Billy Ballew, el de Las Vegas ha logrado su sexta victoria en la Truck Series de este año, cuarta de sus últimas cuatro participaciones.

Además, con el segundo puesto de su compañero de equipo Aric Almirola, Billy Ballew Motorsoport consigue su primer doblete en las 298 carreras que lleva disputadas en la tercera división de la NASCAR.

Un reinicio final con 2 vueltas por disputar, llevó a la Mountain Dew 250 4 vueltas por encima de las 94 a las que estaba programada. Tras reanudarse la carrera con los 2 compañeros de equipo en las 2 primeras posiciones, Todd Bodine logró adelantarlos para colocarse líder con la última vuelta por disputar.

Cuando parecía que Bodine tenía la victoria en el bolsillo rodando en el trióvalo, un movimiento de su Toyota Tundra nº 30 para bloquear al piloto que rodaba por el exterior, permitía al duo compuesto por Busch y Almirola colarse por dentro y lograr el triunfo, en un espectacular final de carrera, típico de Talladega.

El incidente que propició este final ocurrió a menos de 5 vueltas para el final, cuando el “Big One” hizo su aparición. Varios movimientos laterales en la recta de atrás propiciaron que Skinner perdiera el control de su máquina por un contacto, y se produjera una melé, en la cual se vieron envueltos, además del propio Skinner, Ron Hornaday, líder de la general, Max Papis, Rick Crawford, Brian Scott y Chad McCumbee.

- “Algunas veces da asco cuando tienes que empujar a un compañero a la victoria, pero afortunadamente Aric lo ha querido hacer.” – comentaba el vencedor sobre la ayuda de su compañero. El que no estaba tan satisfecho era el piloto que terminó en segundo lugar. Almirola decía al final que le hubiese gustado ser el número 1 de la ecuación.

Pese a su incidente, que le hizo terminar decimoséptimo, Hornaday sigue manteniendo 202 puntos de ventaja en la general sobre Matt Crafton, cuando restan solamente 3 pruebas para terminar el campeonato.

A great colaberation between Pro Green and Mike Skinner (The Streets), Defonetaly one of my singles of the year.

prepare to be amazed people

leave comments guys.

cyaaa

Wow, been way too long between posts.

Well, FBRP has been moving slow lately, still trying to find time to do all the things we want to do. It will happen, bear with us.

For me, I will be in San Diego tonight for a concert from one of my favorite artists, The Streets. Coming all the way from London, I’ve been a fan of them since I was in high school, and I still am to this day. So, Andy and I will be heading down to the Diego at Belly Up Tavern tonight for the show. Its going to be amazing. I can’t wait. So, in honor, here is a fantastic video from Mike Skinner, and The Streets. Enjoy. I know I will

More updates to come next week.

Stay well,

Reid.

Jamie T Live Review – for Tommagazine.com

Monday 23rd September, The Hi-Fi

In a wild and unpredictable night at the Hi-Fi, through the madness of both the crowd and the organisers, one thing remains constant, the insatiable Jamie T, who courageously sends his adulating fans into a frenzy.

The rough and ready Londoner who blurs punk, hip-hop, reggae, rock, drum & bass and a shitload more has developed an extremely dedicated fan-base in our far realms of the world and tonight they’ve packed the Hi-Fi to bursting point. They are drunk and lary, gradually growing even more intoxicated and impatient as they wait and wait and wait…. Finally after over an hour the heavy curtains are thrown back and we are greeted by tonight’s saviour, a scruffy twenty-something who is cheekily grinning from ear to ear.

Backed by his brigade of scallies, ‘The Pacemakers’ he launches into ‘The Man’s Machine’ and the crowd goes off, they deafen the singer himself with the recital of every word from a song only released two weeks ago. T announces the next song as not a new song, but a new number and throws down ‘368′, racing round the stage like a energiser bunny on crack, leaping off the PA, shaking hands with the whole front line, whilst spitting rhymes like a machine gun. His band are spot-on in replicating the eclectic visions his two albums offer, featuring a super trendy black bassist, a semi-anorexic rocker on lead, an aging stoner-type on keys and a drummer hidden somewhere behind a tonne of percussion. Jamie T switches between instruments through-out, he sends his band off early on to perform a blistering rendition off ‘Back In The Game’ on the acoustic bass, which is just a blissfully forceful as the full-band stuff.

Jamie T has a smorgasbord of sing-a-longs to whip the crowd into a dancing and shouting free-for-all and when he rolls out, ‘If You’ve Got The Money’ the audience raise the roof. The acoustics in the Hi-Fi can be exceptional, and when thousands of mental fans are echoing, “money, money, money” the atmosphere becomes electric. T rides this waves of electricity throughout, grinning and cracking friendly jeers at the ‘mother fuckers on the balcony’ who are too cool to dance as well as bemusing himself over our strange beer measuring system of pots and schooners. The set flies along at a hair-raising pelt, Jamie pushing his band the whole way as he breathlessly rips through new and old songs, which are met with equal appreciation from the audience. The hysteric crowd never relent in their chanting and as the gig wears on the wildness amongst the crowd spills onto the stage as drunkards begin to clamber onboard and join the blistering show.

Every song tonight is a rip-roaring standout, the Dub vibe of ‘Chaka Demus’ jaunts into a massive lad-rock chorus, while ‘British Intelligence’ is as punk-hop as a genre bender can get. His song-writing easily stands in the class of fellow Brit wordsmiths such as Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer and Mike Skinner, all of whom have served him influence yet take nothing away from his individual style. Jamie T is in a class of his, you can’t pin a label on his music and his showmanship in a live setting is of a mind-blowing calibre.

The frenzy in the Hi-Fi is at a boiling point as T finishes up with a terrific raw recital of ‘Salvador’ and the crowd lose the plot as the band leaves the stage. Instruments are stood on as more drunks clamber amongst the equipment and the security begins to look panicked. The melee in the audience doesn’t let up as chants and stamps eventuate in a slightly pissed off Jamie T coming back to dust off his trampled bass and bang out the emphatic, ‘Brand New Bass Guitar’. By this point any attempt to get the kids off the stage is pointless and Jamie T disappears amongst the congratulators as the band rush into ‘Sheila’ a particularly amazing song, which encapsulates one of the most wildly brilliant nights the Hi-Fi has ever seen.

Such a track.

Professor Green Ft Mike Skinner…..Crying Game.

Everyone needs heroes. Without them there’d be no one to learn from, nothing to strive for, and the Nazis would always end up winning in 1950s war movies. With that in mind, I’ve come up with a list of writers I admire. The list is by no means exhaustive, and it’s heavily influenced by my recent reading. But all of the following are affecting the way I’m thinking at the at the moment.

Gideon Haigh

English born but Australian bred, Haigh’s Ashes blog was one of the best reads of the summer. A wry writer with a great eye for quirks, his blog always provided original insight and stepped off the beaten track – exactly what a good blog should do.

Mike Skinner

The fleeting nature of pop music means lyricists never have time to build a detailed story. All they can do is throw out an image using a few words and hope it captures the scene. Presumably, Ezra Pound would have been a great frontman for a rock band.

Mike Skinner (leader singer of The Streets)  is brilliant at these images – listen to his account of first date awkwardness on Could well be in. I especially like ‘I’m trying to think what else I could say / Peeling the label off, spinning the ashtray.’ For fans, Skinner’s Twitter account is well worth following too.

Sir Winston Churchill

I’ve been gradually working my way through Churchill’s The Second World War since Christmas. That’s not to say it’s not great, but it was a very long war and the book is too heavy to take on the tube.

Churchill has a fittingly majestic style but is always very readable. The part where he goes to Russia to persuade Stalin to change sides is extraordinary. He weaves the domestic details of the trip in amongst an account of a conversation that ultimately decided the fate of the entire world. Very rarely do we get such a personal insight into history.

Seth Godin

I know this is hardly an original choice. And I know there’s already more than enough Godin fawning on the internet, especially as he spends most of his time recycling the same ideas over and over again.

But Godin is massively successful, and I think his great secret is his accessibility. He writes plainly, avoids getting overly technical, and above all he keeps things brief. His 200 word posts are perfect for skim-reading during a working day, and then discussing endlessly around the water cooler or on Twitter. If there ’s one thing I will do with this blog, it’s to start writing entries of  less than 300 words where at all possible.

 By Sporting News Wire Service for Nascar.com

Mike Skinner was the beneficiary of a wild conclusion in the Camping World Truck Series race Saturday, winning the Copart 200 in a green-white-checkered finish at Gateway International Raceway.

Matt Crafton was involved in incidents in back-to-back restarts with 10 laps remaining that knocked out the first-place and second-place trucks.

On the first restart, Crafton, running third, jumped inside of  Todd Bodine, who restarted second. As they approached Turn 1, Bodine’s Toyota angled toward the inside and contact was made with Crafton’s Chevrolet. Bodine did a quarter-spin on the pit-lane exit and went across the track, hit the outside wall and made contact with Colin Braun and Rick Crawford. The race was red-flagged.

On the subsequent restart, Crafton lined up second behind Ron Hornaday. When Hornaday turned into the first corner, Crafton was inside him and hit the left-rear of Hornaday’s Chevrolet. Hornaday backed into the outside wall and then was hit by Jason Young.

The race was again red-flagged, with Crafton in front. But NASCAR black-flagged Crafton for aggressive driving, giving the lead to Skinner. Johnny Sauter moved up to second and Brian Scott to third. Crafton was forced to restart at the back of the field, the 11th and final truck on the lead lap. When Crafton drove down pit lane to serve his penalty, a large number of the crowd applauded.

Skinner held off Sauter on the green-white-checkered finish and won by .285 seconds in the 162-lap race, two over the scheduled distance.

It was Skinner’s second consecutive victory, his third of the season and 28th of his career in the series.

“I’ve won a couple like this, and I’ve probably lost 20 like this,” Skinner said. “I’m at least 18 upside down. I’ve said it I don’t know how many times: How are we going to ever police, how are we ever going to stop it being OK just to go out there in the first turn on a restart with five to go and wreck the leader to win races?

“I’ve been on NASCAR about it, I’ve been on officials about it. I chose not to do it this year twice to Ron Hornaday. I raced him clean, and I think [Saturday] it came back and paid dividends for me. We had about a second-place truck.”

Crafton climbed back to finish sixth, and Hornaday was 17th. Hornaday has a 197-point lead over Crafton in the point standings with seven races remaining. Skinner is third, 213 back.

Sauter was unhappy that NASCAR ordered Skinner in front of him under caution before the next-to-last restart. NASCAR said the electronic timing loop at the time of the caution had Skinner ahead.

“I don’t know how you get passed under the caution,” Sauter said.

Sauter also defended Crafton’s aggressive driving. “First of all, Matt Crafton won [Saturday],” Sauter said. “I don’t think Matt dumped anybody. He had good restarts.”

Aric Almirola finished fourth, and Tayler Malsam was fifth.

I know the tunes been around a couple of months now but its still hot. With 300k views on youtube clocked today i thought i would hook this up again for all y’all.

Its been a quieter than expected year so far for Giggs but with a heavy deal with XL Recordings apparently signed and sealed now things are moving on nicely.

Después de ser el más fuerte toda la noche, Mike Skinner, piloto de la Toyota Tundra número 5, tuvo que sujetar al resto del pelotón en un último reinicio con tan solo 4 vueltas por disputar, para conseguir su segunda victoria de la temporada en la Lucas Oil 200 de la Camping World Truck Series disputada el sábado por la noche en el Iowa Speedway.

Skinner lideró 180 de las 200 vueltas de la carrera, haciéndose con el liderato por última vez a 81 vueltas del final, tras rebasar a Aric Almirola en una lucha puerta a puerta por la primera posición.
Pero al final tuvo que sufrir para ganar, primero por la tardía bandera amarilla, que neutralizaba su ventaja, y después por el temor a quedarse sin combustible antes de cruzar la meta.

- “El motor murió saliendo de la curva 4. No se si ha sido cosa del combustible. Yo solo la he cuidado y ha pasado muy rápido la curva.” – comentaba Skinner sobre ese problema.
Afortunadamente para el, consiguió ver la bandera a cuadros y lograr su victoria número 27 en la Camping World Truck Series, y la segunda de la temporada para el equipo Randy Moss Motorsport.

Almirola, segundo al final, pagó su estrategia de cambiar solamente 2 neumáticos en su última parada, y no pudo batir a Skinner.

Colin Braun terminó la carrera en tercera posición, tras rebasar a 10 vueltas para terminar al líder del campeonato, Ron Hornaday, que terminó cuarto.

Con este resultado, y con la sexta plaza final de Matt Crafton, Hornaday incrementa su ventaja en la tabla hasta los 225 puntos.

El piloto de Las Vegas Kyle Busch, con la Toyota Tundra de Billy Ballew Motorsport, ha logrado el viernes por la noche su segunda victoria consecutiva en la Nascar Camping World Truck Series, al imponerse en la EnjoyIllinois.com 225, carrera inaugural de estas series en el Chicagoland Speedway. Es el cuarto triunfo de Busch este año en la tercera categoría de la Nascar.

Su victoria se gestaba a 19 vueltas para el final, cuando conseguía adelantar a Todd Bodine, que acabó la carrera en segunda posición, a tan solo 0,580 sg del vencedor.

Bodine, que se hizo con el liderato en la vuelta 98 de 150, aprovechando la entrada de Busch a repostar, pudo aguantar el liderato hasta la vuelta 132, momento en el que el piloto de la Toyota número 51 aprovechó el último reinicio de la prueba para tomar el mando, y cruzar en primera posición bajo la bandera a cuadros.

Colin Braun terminó tercero, seguido por Rick Crawford y Johnny Sauter, que completaron el Top5.

El líder de la clasificación general, Ron Hornaday, acabó la carrera en undécima posición. Aún así, consiguió aumentar su ventaja respecto a Matt Crafton, segundo de la tabla de puntos, al terminar decimocuarto. Mike Skinner, que terminó decimotercero, sigue tercero en la clasificación general.

Example is a 27 year old singer/rapper from London who`s real name is Elliot John Gleave. Influenced by rappers like the Wu Tang Clan and Snoop Dogg, he started to rap himself.  He won several rap battles, but decided to concentrate on his study of film directing.

After he lived a year in Australia, he came back to London and concentrated on his music. He got support bei Radio 1 and is signed on Mike Skinner`s (The Streets)  label The Beat now.  Example describes his music himself as “an up-tempo electro garage rap mash-up”. His music is also pop and electro influenced, which you can hear on his new single “Watch the sun come up”.  His new album “Won`t Go Quietly” is scheduled for January 2010. Here is the part-animated video for the new single, which is out in September:

http://www.myspace.com/leadingbyexample

NextMen feat. Ms Dynamite ‘Lions Den’ off the Join the Dots EP

Mike Skinner feat. Giggs – Slow Songs

Tinchy Stryder – Catch 22

Bashy – Catch me if you can

Log onto any legal downoad site & support good music if you like good music!

The word on the grimey street is that UK rapper Giggs has now signed to XL Recordings.

Well……I never saw this coming….

This is going to be interesting……

Giggs – You Raised Me/Open Up

Giggs ft The Streets ‘Slow Song’

Yet another release on the new Blatant Swagger imprint i’m working. Prolific grime producer Bless Beats, responsibile for Wiley’s ‘Wearing My Rolex’ and Skepta’s ‘Rolex Sweep’ smashes, teams up with hot A&R prospect Charlee Brown and lord of grime Wiley. Shame he didn’t turn up for the video shoot but at least we got Rihanna to show! 178k views on Daily Motion and rising!! Cop it from all good digital retailers from the 23rd August 2009.

Look out for more from Bless and the Blatant Swagger imprint. Def one to watch!! Check the video sample here..let me know what you think.

Giggs

Mike Skinner is the epitome of the phrase ‘critally acclaimed’..there are those who hate him and those who love him

I embrace anything different so I appreciate his sytle 100% and this lyrics are too bad either lol

When I first heard this song a month ago I didnt know how to take it..then I didnt hear again until now..i love it..and its nice to hears Giggs vocals like this; he shines in this track..It is this kind of production which will transform him into a megastar

..check out the video below

So I have wanted this first track from the first time I heard it.  Its the Nero remix of the Streets track In the Middle. I should point out that I absolutly love Mike Skinner and The Streets, I think he’s a modern day wordsmith. I love Nero’s take on this, keeps all the vocals in place and just puts a dubstep beat in there and makes a masterpiece.

The Streets – In the Middle (Nero Remix)

Next track is the first remix i heard from Nero. Again it is a streets remix and I just felt the need to put it on the blog for anyone who has not yet heard it. Its a mix of The Streets blinded by the lights. Its the just the perfect track to be given the dubstep treatment. Give it a listen and turn up the bass.

The Streets – Blinded by the Lights (Nero Remix)