Now Its Raining More Than Ever

This song is fucking destroying me at the moment.

Rihanna – Umbrella (Vandalism Remix)

Future Of the Music Industry

Great article on the future of the music industry in the New York Times by the guy that wrote Freakonomics.

BIG TUNE!

Anyone that read Upside Down Stupid Hat will know that I’m a) completely and utterly addicted to podcasts and b) a massive massive fan of Radioclit. I first heard of Radioclit back in the heady days of the Lemon Red mix series (oh those were the days) – they’re mix was amazing and following that I got to know them pretty well and hang out and chat about music and stuff. Anyway they’ve gone and done a mix for Mad Decent (which I think is run by Chris Lemon Red and Paul Devro writes for the blog – his Lemon Red mix was also fucking awesome) – anyway their new mix is so supremely awesome I can hardly contain myself – its a mix of Coupe Decale which is dance music from the Ivory Coast. There’s a strong Ivory Coast community in Paris and it would seem as if a lot of Parisien artists are collaborating with artists from the Coupe Decale scene. You can get the Mad Decent podcasts here and the Radioclit one is the last one. Off this mix there’s one tune that caught my ear – its fucking huge, quite repetitive synths and a great rhythm – the artist is called Bablee and the tune is called Ca Peut Tuer which means ‘that could kill’ I think. Here’s the video.

I’ve been thinking a lot about some kind of new ‘World’ music scene – it would appear that Diplo has a lot to do with this seeing as he championed both CSS and Bonde Do Role but I think the tinternet has loads to do with it obviously – DJs hungry for something new have always searched other countries for something fresh – I went to a party on top of some hotel in LA a while ago and Egon from Stones Throw played a set exclusively of Turkish psychadelic rock – the rise of Baile and Caroica has been interesting because people like Bonde Do Role don’t rap in English but people go nuts for them – and what about MIA? Both albums draw heavily on beats, rhythms and sounds from around the globe. I wonder whether this is some kind of backlash to the mass of indetikit / interchangeable ‘indie’ bands that we’ve been inundated with over the past few years?

Oh and Radioclit’s new single Divine Gosa is out today – I think only on 12″ but go search it out – its BIG.

If Grits Ain’t Groceries

Since setting up this blog I’ve been thinking about food related songs – especially ones that reference soul food. Back when I used to DJ soul and stuff this was on heavy rotation – I don’t really know much abut Little Milton – he recorded on both Stax and Chess and worked with Fontella Bass – I think this was his biggest tune. Anyway if anyone has any suggestions for tunes then holla – one particular tune that I love but can’t find anywhere is Aint No Greens In Harlem by The Vibrations – oh its such a good tune – if anyone’s got it then let me know.

Little Milton – Grits Ain’t Groceries

So Fucking Disco

So yeah – if I had to think of my top 5 songs from Bestival this would be right up there. I don’t know much about Pase Rock – he used to be in the Five Deez who I loved and he seems to be part of the Cosmo Baker, Diplo scene – anyway peep this track its soooo fucking disco.

Pase Rock – So Fucking Disco 

No Fried Chicken at Bestival!

Just got back from Bestival and feeling way ropey – as you can imagine I didn’t find much in the way of greens or fried chicken  there  but  I did see some great bands.  My top picks -

Jack Penate – just so fucking lively, the songs are great and his voice is beautiful .

Bat For Lashes – OMGZZ!!!! srsly she’s sooo good and ‘Prescilla’ is such a tune.

Spank Rock – these guys have been practicing since I saw them last, Naheem and Pase Rock bounced off each other really well and they had 4 Djembe drummers from Bmore.

Fionn Regan – I’ve never seen him before but he was great, kinda Dylan-esque – need to find out more about him.

Tunng – soooo good, full on electronic folk business, some if even sounded like Folk Grime.

Port O Brian -  never heard of them before but they were great, scruffy, dusty Californian folk pop in the vein of Bright Eyes and Two Gallants.

Texas Embassy Cantina

Situated in the same building as the Canadian Embassy and a chicken bones throw from the National Gallery I’ve walked passed TEC a shiz load in the past and always knocked it, thinking it was some awful burger joint. 2 nights ago I ventured in after the window menu promised ‘southern fried chicken’ WOOT a first!

Inside its spacious, I guess its Texan right? The one time I walked 20 blocks in Texas it took me 1.5 hours! Best beer on the menu was Sam Adams which doesn’t bother me but surely a Texan brewery wouldn’t have gone a miss.

I ordered fried Jalepanos with cheese to start and the chicken for a main . Fried Jalapenos with cheese is fucking awesome (although a little expensive for what is really 6 small chillis in cheese). The main was better but not a whole heap, the chicken was aight, it came with fries (good) and a little pot of corn (nicenice). The batter on the chicken was standard but it was more like goujons than a wing or a thigh (no bones) – the gravy was ok (cream gravy) but not spectacular.

All in all a nice meal but not what I’ve been searching for, this was posh KCFC but in a nice Texan environment, I mean that in a spacious way, Texas has space and it was surprising how much space this place had considering how central it is. Anyway, I’d defo go back, and maybe I will and try some of the Mexican stuff they had and maybe a Margarita.

Why Pigeons?

Well you see – always wanted a pair of those London Dunks that had a pigeon on one foot and the Thames on the other – but you see I kinda made that up – its actually the NY dunks that have the pigeon and the LDN ones that have the Thames (obviously). But does this mean that pigeons don’t represent London? I know that most urban cities have them but I always thought a skanky grey pigeon really represented the city – one of the reasons is that a friend of mine wrote a book entitled The London Pigeon Wars which basically involves pigeons developing language and sentience and then starting a war – safe. Anyway maybe we should have a transatlantic pigeon war to decide who really gets to represent their city with a fucked up one legged chip eating skank pigeon!

LDN DUNK

NY DUNK

 

Pigeons & Grits!

Ok so this is my new blog where I’m going to talk about stuff – topics will include

• My quest to find collard greens, proper fried chicken and all sorts of ’soul’ food in London.
• Pictures of signs that I like.
• Music stuff.