Hardy Times

My name is Andy and I love Francoise Hardy, there I’ve said it- the rest of this should be easy.
There are so many reasons I love Francoise Hardy, but one of them is that most of her lp sleeves are beautifully designed and a joy to look at. Try these:

Now for the music, songs of heartbreak and loss, breathily sung by a beautiful French lady and soaked in strings. Francoise worked with amongst others Serge Gainsbourg, Jean Claude Vannier and Gabriel Yared  so you get lots of classy sounds, however I find some of her stuff to be hit and miss, but the good is very good and as a bonus the lps are pretty much charity shop/jumble sale/boot fair staples. Here are some of my favourites

“Le premier bonheur du jour “
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnwFebBO2QI&feature=related

A duet with Jane Birkin- “Comment Te Dire Adieu”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GZkY0TdSFU&feature=related

“Sol”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCmgwzznY8k&feature=related

 “Message Personnel” (sung in English)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9d5_ALtiTc&feature=related

The above lp is fantastic and contains a lovely version of Neil Young’s “Till The Morning Comes”
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b86Ha2xhMfM

Another reason for loving Francoise is her effortless style

And one last one…

xA

Kool Herc/Grandmaster Flowers

 I am currently obsessed with the birth of hip hop, general consensus states that hip hop was born in the Bronx when Kool Dj Herc held parties in the community room of the basement of the building he lived in with his family, 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.

Eventually Herc’s parties out grew the basement and moved round the corner to the playgroud on Cedar St.

Here is a short video that gives a brief history
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTkbF6dRdoE

Here is an excerpt from a documentary about hip hop with ace footage of Herc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhisX4mVoDI


Grandmaster Flowers

I can’t mention the birth of hip hop without mentioning Grandmaster Flowers. Flowers was a Brooklyn based Dj who preceded Herc, Bambatta,  Jazzy Jay, and Grand Wizzard Theodore. In fact legend has it that Flowers gave Theodore the grandmaster prefix. Flowers used to play in parks, school halls, and clubs. In 1969 when James Brown played at the Yankee Stadium, Grandmaster Flowers was chosen to be the warm up Dj. It is fair to say Flowers was ace… sadly it was a case of always a bridesmaid and never a bride as the djs he influenced became more popular he was less so. Towards the end of the 70’s Flowers had stopped djing and sold his records to fund his drug addiction. Sadly he died in 1992.


This link has a Grandmaster Flowers mix, and a brief history
 http://grandgood.com/2008/12/02/grandmaster-flowers-brooklyn-park-jam-1979-audio/

This link to a few pages from the deephousepage forum, has a lot more info about Flowers, and a lovely post from Francois K where he shares his love for Flowers ( I love it when a post can combine disco, hip hop and house ).
http://www.deephousepage.com/forums/showthread.php?p=656811

I am currently reading “The Fortress Of Solitude” by Jonathan Lethem, as mentioned in the above link, and enjoying it very much. Lots of period details and Brooklyn trivia, once I’ve finished it I shall be reading more of JL’s work.

An appreciation of the music of Jenny Lewis

Ok then, Matt has asked me to write something for the blog, he suggested a few of my loves - gospel, François Hardy and Saint Etienne. I was honoured to be asked and a little worried about a) making myself look like a twat and b) making myself look like a twat. Matt pretty much has the Disco, Detroit, House, Dub and Soul side of things represented, so I wondered what to write about. I decided to go for some contemporary rock/indie type of business, variety is the spice of life and all that. After much thought I decided to go with “An appreciation of the music of Jenny Lewis”  or as you might prefer to call it a brief history and some you tube clips.
A few years ago my friend Johnny (a man of impeccable taste) kindly sent me a four cd compilation of songs he loved. In amongst the many gems were two tracks by Jenny Lewis and The Watson twins both from the lp “Rabbit Fur Coat”. Here’s one of them “You Are What You Love”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ugSzInV3sA

A few months ago in the lovely summer another John came to the boat with a bunch of songs he loved and he played the same Jenny Lewis and Watson Twins lp. John used to work for Record and Tape exchange, and lives a much cleaner life than me, so his head is full of musical knowledge. I asked him if he knew much about Jenny Lewis and he asked if had heard her first band Rilo Kiley, I hadn’t.
It turns out Rilo Kiley had made 4 lps.
Here is the very interesting (and not safe for work) video for “The Moneymaker” taken from the “Under The Blacklight” lp the last one before Jenny went solo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ugSzInV3sA
(brilliant my first contribution to the Disco Village and it’s smutty)

Now the solo lps,  2006 gave us the aforementioned “Rabbit Fur Coat”, then in 2008 came “Acid Tongue”. Here is the video for “Rise Up With Fists” from RFC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-DZJo_Xyh8

And here is the title track of second solo lp “Acid Tongue”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Z-e7XYW1Qk&feature=related

Last month saw the release of the latest Jenny Lewis lp, this time its recorded with her fella Jonathan Rice hence the groups name Jenny and Johnny, the lp is called “I’m Having Fun Now”. I was lucky enough to see Jenny and Johnny play in NYC last month supporting the mighty Pavement. Here is a little taste of the lp, a song called “My Pet Snakes”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MvWIHuCSMw&feature=mfu_in_order&playnext=1&videos=61M29KOjkVs

If you liked any of that, Jenny and Johnny are touring in the UK from 24th November (Birmingham) until 10th December (London), I have tickets for two dates but suspect I may go all stalky and do the full run. For tour dates and more info check their website
http://jennyandjohnnymusic.com/


And since I mentioned Pavement it would be rude not to post a link or two
Pavement on Jay Leno 1994 performing “Cut Your Hair”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojx4PfmgoE
And the same song live from Williamsburg Waterfront, Brooklyn NYC 19/9/2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhApz-SwI-w
Thanks for reading, check the Restless Funk radio show with Matt and myself Mondays 9-10 pm on http://www.camfm.co.uk/ or 97.2 FM if you are a simple country bumpkin like me
X

D-V-2

More pictures from the Disco Village... First two are part of the changing spaces art project, turning disused retail space into impromtu viewing spaces. This one is a collage of photo's making up a scene photographed of the street right out the front of the shop space where the work is displayed on Regent Street. Later pictures from Squirrel, reality checkpoint - (wiki), a scene from Suo-Gan (a gentleman's picnic), and the Village's best booze merchant!

 

A Gentleman's Picnic

Bacchus, your friendly vendor...

Recommended this week

Heavy blogging this week, but what's a girl supposed to do. So it had been quiet on the new music release front for a while, then all of a sudden the motherlode drops out of the sky. With no sign of the deluge abating, perhaps we need to breath deep, keep a steady hand on the tiller, and think (and listen) carefully before we hit "add to cart". Phil South (Golf Channel label head honcho) recently previewed the new material from Gala Drop in a mix for resident advisor's "Label of the Month" section, suprise suprise the label was Golf Channel, and deservedly so. A steady stream of incredibly diverse releases since the infamous M.E. - R'n'B Drunkie Golf Channel 001 has produced a superior back catalogue that manages to stay current while keeping it real and pushing the boundaries. Promo's like the one pictured hit the shops now... Check Phil's mix for RA here:

Golf Channel Resident Advisor Label of the Month Mix

Filesize: 173.8 MB
Length: 02:00:41

Tracklist
Spike - The Golden Eye
Gala Drop - Overcoat Heat
Ghost Note - Kapwa
Dominik Von Sender - No Name 2009
DJ Nature - Feeling Like a Woman
DJ Nature - It's Over
DJ Nature - This Side of Heaven
DJ Nature - Everyone
Gala Drop - Izod
Ghost Note - Holy Jungle
Try To Find Me - Get to My Baby - TBD Extension
Try To Find Me - Make Dance
Sexican - Liza Version In C#5
Justin Vandervolgen - Clapping Song
Ghost Note - Albularyo
Try To Find Me - Hey Love
Justin Vandervolgen - Sheebooyah
M.E. - R+B Drunkie
DJ Nature - Destiny Reprise
Spike - E.S. Rever
Spike - Fooling Around
Spike - Goodnight

Recommended next week

Been talkin' bout this release for a minute now, dropping next week on Partehardy

Jamie 3:26 - The Basement Edits Vol 2

Basement Edits Vol. 2 by jamie3too6

Good work J!

It's not fair :-(

Gutted, eh?

***AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY AT THE DOPE JAMS HALLOWE'EN PARTY ON 10/30***  EXTREMELY LIMITED 12" of two haunting THEO PARRISH mash-ups pressed on impure WHITE vinyl! 100 Copies Pressed.

If you've heard Theo Parrish play records in the last 2 years or so then you've probably been ambushed by a few oddball R&B-turned-DIY-basement-tracks that only he would have the balls to champion.  Monster Mashup - Hallowe'en 2010 features the already legendary "Just1lovebug" & "Avantsdrumface," disparate mash-ups that harken back to the days of those cherished beige label-centers that read some in-name only record company, listed a few track titles without artist information and unassumingly heralded some of the most successful dance anthems never to be heard beyond the insular communities from which they were birthed---epitomes of an audacious underground experimentalism that manipulated major-label hits like so many pawns on the chessboard of a master programmer's mind. With the same playfulness, the Sound Signature head has expropriated some of the most catchy instances of mainstream soul and hastily pasted them onto the sparse bone structures of Chicago's original rhythmical minimalism, concocting a lethal potion of club-oriented wizardry that cannot be denied. This is an act of modern-day musical détournement that doesn't really give a damn how the experiment will read on paper. What's at stake here is rocking the party, and rock with devastating results it does. Released in a ridiculously limited quantity of 100 white-vinyl copies in honor of Dope Jams' 3rd Annual Halloween Costume Ball, these secret weapons straight from the private vaults of Detroit's finest son dare us to play the mischievous role of the puppet master, inducing our most guarded compatriots into forgetting their serious side and moving their bodies to the spell which they cannot for the life of them help from falling under.