Unsung Hero's - Alpha Omega/Nubian Minds/Colin Lindo

Alpha Omega and Nubian Minds (plus more) are aliases of Colin Lindo. In my opinion he is definitely one of the unsung hero's in underground music. He has kickstarted so many labels (i.e. he's had the first release) especially within the Jungle/Drum & Bass world, and I think his music has really added value to labels like Archive, Neroli, 2000 Black, Head2Toe, etc... those labels would not be the same if it wasn't for his music.

So what is it about his music that is so special? I can't pin point it to be honest, but the combination of beats and general vibes really make me think 'This is the SHIT' when I listen to his music. I honestly do not think he gets the credit he deserves for his music. And it really p***es me off when I see other artists getting a lot of respect for what is to my ears sub-standard music.

A few years back he self-released a load of cdr's which contained drum and bass, techno, 'broken beat', house, all kinds of electronic music. Since then I haven't heard of him. However, I just found out today that he has got a sound cloud page: http://soundcloud.com/colinlindo

Check it out! When I get a chance I will try and some video's and other stuff to this post.

Record Sleeve: Juan Atkins - Back to Basics part 1

This is the cover for Juan Atkins release on a label called New Religion. The cover looks pretty damn amazing to me! It's by a guy called Alan Oldham who is also a music artists as well as a visual one. He has done lots of good covers. He has done covers for some other releases on New Religion, and he has also done covers for Miss Djax's record labels. The only one I have in my collection is a cover he did for her album. This is one of my favourite of his. I like his style of drawing comics and I like the colours - he's done the figure in black and gold, and the eye outline in red.

I think covers like this really make a difference when buying music especially in a vinyl format. It's too easy to just pop the vinyl in a house sleeve or plain old black one. Especially as these days vinyl is costing even more to buy.

Hope you enjoy.....

Fybe One - So What (Chesslo Junior remix)

Ok another Two Hungry Ghosts thing! They aren't paying me, honest! Lol.

This is so damn ridiculously good! For the ones that love beats give this a digital spin! I got no idea who Chesslo Junior is but I'm going to do some research in a moment, and here's where I'll be starting:
http://en-gb.facebook.com/ChessloJunior
http://soundcloud.com/chesslojunior

Big up Chesslo Junior, whoever and whatever you! Keep these beats rolling perleazzzze! :-)

Two Hungry Ghosts - White Label Series - Archive 1

 

Oh my geeeeeez. More free music, are these peeps mad! Not being funny, but I find a lot of free music is just rubbish - no it's not a psychological thing either hahha. There's some really good tracks in here and definitely worth checking out, there's some really good variety in this zip and definitely worth taking the to time flick through it and download. There's some 'well known' artists and some lesser known artists too. Please, if you love listening to new music then give it a listen......

Denz - The 7th Light [1996 Tribute]

I recently got introduced to this tune, it's good and it's a free download! Happy Days! :-)

It's a nice Jungle/Drum and Bass track - got a little hip hop flavour to it, nice rolling breaks, it's like a cross betweeb Reinforced and Full Cycle record labels :-) Mean that in the nicest possible way. Damn this needs to be on vinyl man.

For more info about Two Hungry Ghosts, check out: http://www.twohungryghosts.com and check their Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/twohungryghosts

'Parasite' found in Telford

Somewhere in Telford along the Euston Priory (EP). I don't know how long it's been there, just noticed it recently.

Remixes by Frankie Knuckles and David Morales

Loose Ends were a UK Soul group from the 80's, they made some very cool music and had nice beats and vibes in their music. One of their hits was 'Hangin on a String' and I was just a little kid when it came out, all I can remember really is 'Magic Touch' which has got some really nice drum sounds. Anyway, Electric Chair (or the people involved with that - based in Manchester) did a compilation and had a Frankie Knuckles remix of the Loose Ends tune, and boy is it an absolute corker. It really switched me on to good quality house music. This remix is absolutely timeless (edit for anyone that checked this earlier: this is the right remix now - trust me it is bliss :-).

Anyway, while I was writing this I also remembered a David Morales remix of a tune by D-Mob and Cathy Dennis:

You know what, when I think of David Morales all I think of is cheesy kind of house like that 'Needin U' tune he did - I know nothing about house by the way (just a few tracks etc.....). I was introduced to a website called Deep House Page (http://deephousepage.com) where they had lots of DJ mixes (check out the Larry Heard ones - they are brilliant!) and there was a mix by a lady called Donna Edwards (http://deephousepage.com/sub/donna_edwards_interview.php) that I checked out and she played this tune which I thought was absolutely unreal. I later found out that it was a remix by David Morales and I was quite shocked to be honest as I was not expecting something like this. The remix is amazing, honestly go and play it.

Sun Ra - Pink Elephants

I've been playing this to my little girl and she absolutely loves this. Woke up this morning and she wanted to hear it so I played it for her. She also really likes Sun Ra's song that goes "If you find earth boring, just the same old same thing, come on sign up with outer spaceways incorperated". Sounds like she is slowly becoming a Sun-Ra fan :-)

I can't remember how I first got to hear 'Pink Elephants on Parade' but probably just from researching. It is definitely one of my favourite Sun Ra tunes. A while back I brought a couple of his albums, one of them was 'The Heliocentric Worlds vol 1'. I did enjoy some of the tracks but did find it difficult to really feel it and connect with it. However after listening to Pink Elephants it helped me to connect with his music when I went back and listened to those albums. I watched the Sun Ra film 'Space is the Place' and the documentary 'Brother From Another Planet' which was produced by Don Letts. Both films are well worth a watch and you can find them easily.

The more I listen to Sun Ra's music, the more I enjoy it. If you like 'Pink Elephants' then definitely check out his and the Arkestra's stuff - do some research around it.

Sun Ra's music feels free. When I hear it, I feel free. There's no limits to it at all.

Sleeve Art: Ken Ishii - Jelly Tones LP

Last night at home I looked through my record collection to find a record that had really nice artwork on the sleeves and I came across Ken Ishii's 'Jelly Tones'. I took some pictures on my phone and also took one from the R&S website (they released the album). As you can see the artwork is very Manga inspired and is really impressive. It was created by artist and animator Kouji Morimonto of Akira fame. The artwork is brilliant, I have never seen anything similar to it either. If you like the artwork, then you may like the video for the track 'Extra':

Project Thirty-Three

I just came across this website: http://www.projectthirtythree.com/ while having a browse. They've got some really interesting vinyl record sleeves. Here's what it says on their website:

"The seemingly infinite number of vintage album covers that convey their message with only simple shapes and typography never cease to amaze us. Project Thirty-Three is our shrine to circles and dots, squares and rectangles, and triangles, and the designers that make them come to life."

There are some really nice covers on their website. I feel like collecting records just for the record sleeves :)

This emphasises the need to have a good visual side to any vinyl or other music related release. I think I will hunt out some record sleeves I like and post them up later (whenever that is :-).

Walsall New Art Gallery: Fiona Rae, etc...

Was hanging around with my family in Walsall town and wanted to check out the art gallery. I was in for a total shock! They had Soca band playing, but they had some work in from Fiona Rae - she has a piece at Birmingham art gallery called 'Darkstar' which is the shit.

Anyway, she had some paintings up and it was called: 'Maybe you can live on the moon in the next century'. I wasn't connecting with all of them but I was in love with one called 'Angel', the picture is above. Check her site: http://www.fiona-rae.com

They also had stuff from Damien Hurst, Jodie Carey and Harminder Judge. I sneaked a recording of a Harminder Judge piece but going to find some music to go with it and then i'll post it up. Nice surprises from Walsall New Art Gallery! Go and visit if you can.

Steve Alexander - Float

For anyone that doesn't know Steve Alexander is a drummer that has played around with a lot of the big groups from the 80's (Duran Duran) and some other people. I'm not sure how he got around to releasing this on the legendary Reinforced Records... There is some info on the www, he has got his own website. Also if you like this and can't get hold of the tracks, you can buy them from his bandcamp page: http://stevealexander.bandcamp.com

Interestingly on his bandcamp the EP/mini album comes with 7 tracks, whereas the CD that I have got comes with 5 tracks - so when I get some extra cash I might have to pay the £5 and check out the 7 track mini album.

I chose 'Float' to put up on here because it's one of the stand out tracks on the CD (the other track is 'Colour of Memory' which is also excellent). Lots of TR808 sounds. I would describe this track as Sci-Fi Blues type music. All the tracks on the CD feel like they would sound great in a film like Bladerunner.

When I originally got the CD I have to admit I did not dig the tracks, they just felt like a load of drums with some wishy washy sounds, but when I listened to it again yesterday it felt different - I don't know whether it's because it's Autumn or what? I was thinking that of all the Jungle/D&B labels at the time, this CD could only come out on Reinforced Records, they were the only ones that were exploring ALL the boundaries of the music.

Boymerang - Urban Space

This was the b-side to Boymerang's release on Grooverider's Prototype recordings. A lot of people got it for the A-side which was 'Still', an excellent track - but when you play 'Urban Space' the b-side track, it is just something else entirely. I'm not sure what format the beats are in or what speed it is at? I don't even know if it's meant to be played at 33 or 45?!? I play it at 45 and it's damn good.

When some says the words 'Future Beats' this is the record that comes to mind - not the other stuff that I've seen knocking around the tag Future Beats (a lot of that stuff is just not futuristic at all, the beats are exactly the same as they were from 1994-1999 so tell me what the **** is futuristic about that????!???!)

'Urban Space' is some next level business - if you are ready for the next level then check it out :)

Terror Danjah - Limbo

Couldn't find this on YouTube so I'll have another look later. An amazing tune though, is it Grime, is it Techno, what is it??? The way I see it (hear it even!), it is straight up Street Music. It's so hardcore and rough. I could go on about this tune all day long. It's actually available as a free download though - a couple of Christmas's ago he gave away a whole album of tracks (because of one reason or another) linked to his Aftershock label I think. I really want to check the instrumental album he released on Planet Mu or whatever label it was. But yeah, 'Limbo' is the one for me, very infectious.

Martyn - Viper

An artist I have never checked out much, I really like the remix he did a while back of some Steve Spacek tune, it had a nice garage flavour to it. I came across Viper when I downloaded the Brainfeeder album that was free. This track totally grabbed me - some of the sounds remind of Rufige Krew's track 'Manslaughter' that Grooverider remixed.

Gemmy - Maroon Chant

Reminds me of Transformers. To me it sounds futuristic, and I love banging this tune out in my car. I get possessed by music like this...

Walsall Street Stencil

Nice Stencil I saw in Walsall a while back, not sure who gets the credit for it though.

DJ Mayhem - Cold Acid

A track with a certain energy and frequency that I have not heard in 'new' music for a while. Breakbeats were always seen as dirty and untouchable things, then it became fashionable, and I think it's gone back to being dirty and untouchable. Long live jungle-techno or whatever you want to call it :)