Here's a feature which my lazy, uninspired backside should have introduced in January; the top ten tracks which have been floating my boat over the course of a month, and so I begin in May. I actually began and shared a top ten tracks of the month feature way back people still actually used Myspace (around 2006/2007) by publishing the now very outdated 'bulletin'. These tracks haven't necessarily come out this month, or even floating round others blogs, DJs etc. either, but I like them enough to share with you. Enjoy.
With the 'classic house' revival revitalising much of what is coming out, it's refreshing to pick up on classics that blow most of the new shit out of the water. Like this.
The recent re-release of Sebadoh's 4th album Bakesale certainly gave me a jolt to listen to one of my favourite bands of the 90s so i dug my old copy and have been blazing it out, especially 'Drama Mine'. Tour in August too...
Recorded just over a year ago following the death of Vic Chestnutt and was soon a staple of his solo and living room shows. There's not many who do cover verisons better. New album dropped this week too!
Hope you all had a good bank holiday weekend (besides the obvious let down of the match on Saturday-well played Barca).
//BINARY// returns for a long overdue night, this time in our new home of Indigo on Wilmslow Road in Withington, Manchester.
Joining residents to celebrate the start of summer will be Manchester's own Nick Massey. Nick alongside Justin Parkinson has for the past five years been behind the excellent and eclectic night Acid Tree held at nearby Folk Cafe Bar in West Didsbury. Whilst this night has made it's name for it's laid back mellow Balearic vibe, Nick has promsed to loosen the shackles in true Binary style and showcase his very own eclectic party vibes.
Full LINE UP
NICK (ACID TREE)
DJ LUKUBU (CLICK TECHNIQ, DIRTY ANALOGUE)
J-WALK (DIRTY RADIO)
Ryan Kelsey
DJ JizzWizz
Been a while since I've shared some Sunday vibes on the blog. After a heavy day yesterday following a 19th league title it's time to relax, reflect and probably stay indoors (it's grim out there-if you turn on BBC 2 you can see for yourself). Enjoy.
"If you don't have an Iphone, well... you don't have an Iphone".
This is the latest tagline used recently by Apple to promote the Iphone. It's several brief 30-40 second television advertisements highlights the perceived unparalleled access and services that their wonderful product offers to modern society. No longer content with owning books and storing them on a bookcase; having a large and well organised physical music collection; enjoying a film on a screen that doesn't fit into your pants; or just simply having the nous to do something simple such as read a map or convert one currency with the other; the Iphone it appears is available to replace all this; and oh my god does it enjoy telling you about it.
Charlie Brooker has over the past several years aimed several 900 word rants on his Guardian column against Apple products and I'm not here to compete or to replicate what its seems only that man is capable of. I have my own grievances with Apple and the whole 'Smartphone' dependency that many of us now have or more likely being expected to have.
The Iphone, like all of it's 'Smartphone' competitors quite expectedly aims to highlight the never ending options and services that their products provides to the customer in order to boost their sales capacity for large sales and improve their public profile. Whilst some may advertise on the basis of an innovative new feature such as HTC; and others document their reliability and functionability such as Blackberry, the Iphone, like all Apple products simply needs to turn up and flex its muscles. They simply just swagger about the place and even if they products are given awlful reviews or embarassing technical hitches are discovered, it simply doesn't matter, they're just better. Being Apple must be like watching a successful sports team where despite how badly they perform and how much criticism they receive, they'll have the means, the power and the audacity to coast along infront of the rest of the opposition with a massive smug bastard grin on their faces.
Your life, it would appear is just incomplete without a Iphone. Your capacity to discover new books will be behind that of your peers. Just how is one to survive without access to more books than the fucking British Library there, then, in your hand is beyond me. When it comes to music, the Iphone's boast that it contains a music player within seems to me as a statement that they have reinvented the wheel. Ringtones and more so Walkman's and 20 odd years of portable music players must have just passed them by. It also has the audacity to tell you what music to listen to through its 'Genius' feature. So your own 'ear' for music is just no longer required. Don't bother reading any music review and discovering music on your own, Apple will tell you what to like. For many who listen to what they think they're supposed to anyway, I guess this won't produce a massive change (I.e. they'll listen to waves of shite).
I haven't got anything against any Iphone (or Smartphone) user; or even many of the products and services that these offer. However what bothers me the most is much of society's acceptance in using these new products. Just because you can now access more or less everything at your fingertips doesn't mean you have to. Don't watch a film on a screen the size of a postage stamp; read a 600 pg novel without turning a page; buy music you are being told to or pay for an app just because some other big dick in the office does. Do it if you want to. All I'm saying is other ways of doing things that a Smartphone can do haven't disappeared. Think about it; what did you do before....?
For almost 15 years David Bazan has (under his own name or the now retired Pedro the Lion) made music full of emotion displaying his own unique brand of storytelling, and of embracing and rejecting faith. Whilst his previous album, 2009 effort Curse Your Branches was a bitter personal battle against issues with alcohol and moving further away from devout Christanity to a more agnostic perspective on life; his new album is more outward looking, querying human behaviour in a society full of contradiction, despair and disillusionment. Whilst this may appear to be a bleak listen, he has by all accounts made an upbeat rock record joined by now permanent band members; bassist Andy Fitts and drummer Alex Westcoat. Like every man and his wife seem to be doing nowadays, a new cut off the album is available before it's release absolutely free. 'Wolves at the Door' can be downloaded from Bazan's own Soundcloud page below. He gave these comments regarding the track to online music hub NPR during a recent interview: -
"It’s clear now that “trickle down” is actually “vacuum up” and yet working class people continue to vote against their own economic interests. Wake up! Anyone whose primary vocation is “making money” is a predator: they may wrestle around with you for a while but eventually they’re gonna go with their instincts and kill and eat you. - David Bazan
The album drops in the United States on May 24th. Unsure yet about a UK release, but you can pre-order now here and receive an instant mp3 email of the album before the physical copy drops through your letterbox from the States. Bazan just never lets you down!
Got on to these tasty re-edits via nu-disco bloggin vault that is I Keep Forgettin'. Whilst the A side 'What I've Got' is a sensual slow ride of the original, the B side 'The Rush' picks it up a notch and in keeping the cracking keyboard loop from the original turns a minor hit for Luther into late night dancefloor gold. Click below for a free download from their Soundcloud page.
Also on their Soundcloud page is an absolute banging re-edit of 1992 hit 'Gonna Be Alright' from The King Street Crew (Danny Tengalia). It's been a few months since they uploaded anything, lets hope they are holed away working on more excellent tracks. Again, get on the free download below.
