Why We Like Music

A friend of mine (Hi Al :) has just produced a show for Rob Da Bank on Radio 1 which is available via podcast. It's about why we like music, from the effects of rhythm on the brain to why some songs make us sad and some make us happy. It's a load of interviews with scientists, a film composer and the Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich cut together with some lovely tunes (mostly ones chosen by Alice except the Jamiroquai track... which she strongly denies having any links to).

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE (Only available till June 1st 2009)

DOWNLOAD PART 1 (192kbps mp3)
DOWNLOAD PART 2 (192kbps mp3)

The Plight

Well seeing as I've found myself listening to lots of stoner music recently here's a sample of a band called The Plight. I went down to Brighton to see them last year (on the strength of hearing 1 track [Ball & Chain]) and they were fucking excellent.
Take some Thin Lizzy, add a little Black Sabbath and mix with some current UK hardcore and you should get the idea. I think they've only released one EP (just 6 tracks unfortunately) called Black Summer but if you like this selection you should buy the whole album. I just hope they get back in the studio and release a full album. If you get a chance to see them live I recommend it :)
Tracks (320kbps mp3)...
Ball & Chain / Clarendon / Lifestyle / Pull The Trigger

DOWNLOAD HERE

Patrik Fitzgerald

Patrik Fitzgerald was an acoustic folk punker I first heard during the early days of punk. According to his my space page he is still releasing music today but here's copies of his first two singles (192kbps mp3). Both EPs were released on Small Wonder Records. The first single is pretty crackly so if anyone has any advice on removing the cracks/hisses etc. from the recording let me know please. Cheers.

The first single was released in 1977. The tracks are as follows :

01) Banging & Shouting
02) Safety Pin Stuck In My Heart
03) Work Rest Play Reggae
04) Set We Free
05) Optimism

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

The second single was released in 1978. Here's the track listing.

01) Buy Me Sell Me
02) Little Dippers
03) Trendy
04) Backstreet Boys

DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Drum & Bass Mix 1

Here's a mix of some Drum & Bass tunes I did a few months ago... complete with a couple of real-time fuck-ups ;) I've actually got the full track listing for this, which is below. There's also a CD cover if you want to burn it.

All tracks are in mp3 format with a bitrate of 320kbps.


DOWNLOAD DRUM & BASS MIX 1 (Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 8)
DOWNLOAD DRUM & BASS MIX 1 (Part 2 - Tracks 9 to 17)

Here's the track listing.
01) Stairway To Heaven (Led Zeppelin & Congo Natty)
02) Let Me See You Bounce [Chris SU Mix] (Biz Markie & Elephant Man)
03) Searching For Humans (unknown)
04) 3AM (MIST v High Contrast)
05) Papua New Guinea (FSOL v High Contrast)
06) Sunshine (Touch Me) (MIST v Marky & XRS)
07) Make It Tonight (High Contrast)
08) Forever & A Day (High Contrast)
09) Mermaid Scar (High Contrast)
10) Deluxe (Quad 1)
11) Under Your Sky [Origin Unknown Mix] (Underwolves)
12) Hold The Sunshine (Blame)
13) Total Science (Dee Pee)
14) Hydronet (Skyflash)
15) Change My Life [Hard Mix] (DJ Hazard)
16) Blow (Full Force)
17) In A Gadda Da Vida (High Contrast)

DOWNLOAD DRUM & BASS MIX 1 (Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 8)
DOWNLOAD DRUM & BASS MIX 1 (Part 2 - Tracks 9 to 17)

Reggae Selector

Continuing on with the dub & reggae songs here's a collection of some excellent reggae for you. Again I've included the CD covers if you want to burn this :)

All the tracks are in mp3 format with a bitrate of 256kbps.




DOWNLOAD THE REGGAE SELECTOR [Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 12]
DOWNLOAD THE REGGAE SELECTOR [Part 2 - Tracks 13 to 23]

Heres the track listing.
01) Bam Bam (Toots & The Maytals)
02) Yush (Michael Rose feat. Sly & Robbie)
03) Dread, Beat & Blood (Linton Kwesi Johnson)
04) Happiness (Black Uhuru)
05) In The Laah (The Upsetters)
06) Ooh! Aah! (Fabulous 5)
07) Welcome To Jamrock (Damien 'Jr Gong' Marley)
08) Police & Thieves (Junior Marvin)
09) Wisdom (Jah Lion)
10) Money In My Pocket (Dennis Brown)
11) War In A Babylon (Max Romeo)
12) Respiration (Horace Andy)
13) Tha Bombudd (DJ Quik)
14) Stick Together (Lee 'Scratch' Perry)
15) Ganja Smuggling (Eek A Mouse)
16) Tired Fi Lick Weed In A Bush (Jacob Miller)
17) Freedom & Liberation (Sly & Robbie feat. Yami Bolo)
18) Bush Weed Corn Trash (Ricky & Bunny Wailer)
19) Herbman Hustling (Sugar Minnott)
20) Superior (Gentleman)
21) Collie Weed (Shinehead)
22) Door Peep (Burning Spear)
23) Marijuana (Linval Thompson)

DOWNLOAD THE REGGAE SELECTOR [Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 12]
DOWNLOAD THE REGGAE SELECTOR [Part 2 - Tracks 13 to 23]

Dub Chemistry

Seeing as I'm going to see Aswad supported by a ska band The Dualers in Watford this Friday I thought I'd upload some dub reggae. Hopefully Aswad will do some of their early stuff rather than the later, more poppy reggae. I've never heard of The Dualers but I do like a bit of ska.

This is just a collection of dub tunes from a few different artists. I've even included the CD cover if you want to burn this :) All the tracks are in mp3 format with a bitrate of 256kbps.

DOWNLOAD DUB CHEMISTRY (Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 11)
DOWNLOAD DUB CHEMISTRY (Part 2 - Tracks 12 to 21)

Here's the track listing.
01) Mosman Skank (Aswad)
02) Invaders (Scientist)
03) Iron Bar Dub (Linton Kwesi Johnson)
04) Travellin' (Twilight Circus Dub Sound System)
05) Night Of Dub (Sly & Robbie)
06) Rockers Reasoning (Messian Dread)
07) Dance Of The Vampires (Scientist)
08) Can't Break Dub (King Tubby)
09) Jah Steppa (Twilight Circus Dub Sound System)
10) Victorious Dub (Linton Kwesi Johnson)
11) Fire Dancing (Roots Fire System)
12) The Corpse Rises (Scientist)
13) Round 06 (Prince Jammy)
14) Cocaine (Sly & The Revolutionaries)
15) Over The River Jordan Dub (Blaminack)
16) No Dub Island (Scientist)
17) Sensical Dub (Linton Kwesi Johnson)
18) Jah Heavy Load (I Jahman Levy)
19) Your Teeth In My Neck (Scientist)
20) Floor Plate (Twilight Circus Dub Sound System)
21) Pick Up The Dub (Scientist)

DOWNLOAD DUB CHEMISTRY (Part 1 - Tracks 1 to 11)
DOWNLOAD DUB CHEMISTRY (Part 2 - Tracks 12 to 21)

Techno Mix 2

Well pretty much the same deal as the last techno mix... I did it a while ago & I can't remember the tunes. Remember kids, don't do drugs, it fucks up your memory :) There is some stuff from Platypus Records, Noom, Hook and again some other stuff which I can't remember... though the first track is by The Madkatt Courtship. Anyway enjoy the mix, it's more chilled than the other one.
DOWNLOAD IT HERE

Techno Mix 1

Well it's about time I uploaded something other than hardcore punk so here's a 45 minute techno mix I did a while back. I don't know the full track listing and I can't be bothered to go through all my tunes to find out :) There's some stuff from Hydraulix records, a couple of tracks from Stay Up Forever and some other stuff which I can't remember at the moment.
DOWNLOAD IT HERE

SSS

Short Sharp Shock (also known as SSS) are a thrash band from Liverpool, England. I saw them last year with Doomriders & Tortuga & they were superb, full on skate thrash hardcore. If you get a chance to see them I highly recommend it. They're playing at The Slaughterday Festival at The Purple Turtle in London on the 23rd of May. They have a web site at www.myspace.com/shortsharpshockuk.

Info: The band released a six track demo in May 2005, a four track EP the next year & their debut album Short Sharp Shock soon thereafter. Their label at the time was "Thrashgig/Dead & Gone Records" but their switch to Earache Records meant the album was re-issued in early 2007 with some additional bonus tracks. They released "The Dividing Line" in 2008, again on Earache. I've got the special edition release of this album with a bonus DVD of live footage and a 20 minute documentary but you can also just get the album (available from Earache or Amazon).

DOWNLOAD a few tracks from "The Dividing Line"
Oil & Water / Bored / Ride The Best Fuck The Rest / Times Up / Street Leech / 3:06

DOWNLOAD a sampler from "Short Sharp Shock"
The Answer Is Never / SSS / OJ Skyrckts / LxBxP / Son Of Beast

Agoraphobic Nosebleed

Seeing as I'm so fucking bored at work (thanks Leon ;) I may as well add some more bands to this here blog of mine. So here's some Agoraphobic Nosebleed.
Info: Headed by guitarist / bassist / drum programmer Scott Hull (also of Pig Destroyer and formerly of A.C. as well), grindcore nut-cases Agoraphobic Nosebleed have existed in various forms since 1994. Their bleak, punishing sound mixes caustic vocals, harsh (and inhumanly fast) drum-machine beats, and Hull's Earache-schooled guitar riffing.
If you're into Grindcore then this is definitely worth getting, if you're not then it's worth hearing it anyway. They have a new album out 'Agorapocalypse' which is excellent and is available from their web site (www.myspace.com/agoraphobicnb) as well as amazon.co.uk etc.

Here's a collection of various tracks from a few of their releases.
Dick To Mouth Resuscitation (from Agorapocalypse)
Druggernaut Jug Fuck (from Agorapocalypse)
Ex-Cop (from Agorapocalypse)
Timelord Zero (from Agorapocalypse)
Dead Battery (from Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope)
Die And Get The Fuck Out Of The Way (from Honky Reduction)
Information Superlost Highway (from PCP Torpedo)

DOWNLOAD THEM HERE

Cross Stitched Eyes

Cross Stitched Eyes formed in the summer 2005 and consist of people from far away countries of all directions with members related to Zygote, UK Subs, Enemies, Anger Of Bacteria, Cold Death, Subhumans, Black Mass, Endrophobia & Tourette Syndrom. They sound like a mixture of Rudimentary Peni and early (good) Killing Joke with a sprinkling of Amebix for good measure. You can get the album from www.activedistribution.org for the measly sum of £5 with a nice gatefold cover and poster.

They've also just released a new 14 track album called Coranach on Alternative Tentacles so go and order it now. I think you get both vinyl and CD in the same album... which is nice :)

Coranach
Cor"a*nach\, n. [Gael. coranach, or corranach, a crying, the Irish funeral cry (the keen), a dirge; comh with + ranaich a roaring, ran to roar, shriek.] A lamentation for the dead; a dirge.

DOWNLOAD the following tracks from the "Faith II Farce" album.
Cast Out II / Face / Suffer / Stitched

You can hear more stuff at the Cross Stitched Eyes Website

Watford v Derby

Well it appears that I've managed to convert my daughter Megan from supporting a foolish team like Chelsea to a far better choice. All it took was taking her to the last game of the season which was at home versus Derby. This was her first proper match and thankfully it turned out much better than I could've hoped for. Two goals from Grzegorz Rasiak and one from Jobi McAnuff giving Watford a 3 goal advantage at the end of the first half made her see why I can support a mid-table championship team rather than one of the teams at the top of the premiership. Admittedly Derby tried to come back in the second half but they could only manage a goal and she was proudly wearing her Watford shirt on the walk back from Vicarage Road. She still claims Chelsea as her second team but we can't have everything.

Tortuga

Here's a couple of songs from a band called Tortuga. They've previously played in bands November Coming Fire and Bossk and are currently writing material for a new record. They’re playing on the 7th of May with This Will Destroy You at South Of The Border in London.
http://www.myspace.com/tortugakings
http://www.myspace.com/thiswilldestroyyou

TORTUGA - KINGS OF ALBANY
I'm not sure how you can class Tortuga, well not in a specific 'They're a punk band' or 'a metal band' kinda way. Doom-laden brutal hardcore prog metal shouty hatecore about sums it up for me.

I can't do reviews... so here's someone who can
Tortuga - Kings Of Albany

TRACKS
Dance Like No-Ones Watching
The Tomb Of John Wortley
Hell's Red Roads

There's also three tracks by November Coming Fire.
Argonaut (from Dungeness album)
Providence (from Dungeness album)
Return Of The Black Bear (from Split 7 with Gallows).

DOWNLOAD THEM HERE