Blog: black country grammar

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I've gave you all the chance to come and watch Supergrass with me in Liverpool. All you had to do was drop me an email telling me why I should take you, with the most witty response winning my plus one. Now, either you don't like Supergrass much, or the thought of going to Liverpool with a blogger you've never met before didn't turn you on much, as NOT A SINGLE ONE OF YOU ENTERED. Not one - not even half an entry for crying out loud. So anyway, I took my [...]

Hmm, I've got a slight problem. A few months ago, one of the guys at work gave a presentation on Twitter , and over the course of the presentation convinced me that I should sign up. Anyway, I haven't got many music buddies on there - everyone is sort of techie - so if you're a Twitter user, come and hit me up to be your friend/follower , and at least that way I'll receive a tweet about something other than the latest iPhone update. MP3 Tweet - Oops (Oh My) [...]

If you're not there already, tonight Farringdon club Turnmills is closing it's doors for the last time. I haven't a clue why it's closing (I heard about it on George Lambs show earlier in the week), but it's always been a club I've had a right laugh in, even if I haven't been for about 5 years. Turnmills was one of those clubs I used to read about in Mixmag when I was a lad in the West Midlands. When I moved to London (about 10 years ago) it was one of the first places I headed for, where I [...]

On 7th March, this blog was 2 years old! That's right, 2 years of grammatically incorrect ramblings about music. Wow. Here's a re-up of the first track I ever posted, and it's still a belter. Here's to many more eh? MP3 Nelly Furtado - Maneater

Hey all, Happy Dead Jesus Day for yesterday. I would have posted up a selection of tunes to soundtrack the day, but I forgot. Never mind. I should really be posting these up on the Shoplifters blog, but I can't keep throwing all the remixey goodness over in that direction, can I? First up, Moby continues to show how much he's got his groove back after 10 years of rubbish with a Jacques Renault remix; Mystery Jets get a Shoes makeover which I've not listened to yet (so apologies if it's rubbish), and the Twelves get their hands [...]

I really don't want to come across as some kind of Zoo/Nuts reader, but there's no denying THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO EVER. Yup, MJ, QOTSA and even Eric Prydz have got nothing on this. NOTHING. Even chicks dig it in exactly the same way as boys. Enjoy.

Here's as appetising Optimo remix of the Shortwave Set. It's alright y'know. MP3 The Shortwave Set - No Social (Optimo Remix)

I've been getting a lot of hits for this recently. Loads of you have come here looking for this track, only to be confronted with 'Devil in a Sports Casual'. There's a story going round that because Damon did some work with a band called Justice, and helped put a song out that you might have heard of called 'D.A.N.C.E', they offered to co-produce this as a returned favour. Whatever you think of the Frenchness and sireny-ness of the whole thing, you can't deny that we're all going to be mighty sick of this come the autumn. This is HUGE. [...]

It's been a little while since Mick has sent me anything, but after popular demand here's his latest post about a Detroit classic. This time, it's Little Stevie Wonder... Remember to go out and buy the new Dirtbombs Record - it's ace! "Everybody knows what they'd do if they had a time machine, right? We all have our ideas, so whenever the subject comes up, we tend to limit it to things like 'If you had a time machine, and could only use it the one time, what live show would you go [...]

So low are the Irish sperm bank levels at the moment, they've made a Europe wide plea for men to come forward and help restock their supplies. In return, you'll get a ticket to a European Festival of your choice. Called 'Sperm for Tickets' , though I think we could all come up with a wittier name for the campaign: What about 'Spunk for Punk', or 'Jizz for Jazz'? Here's a slow jam to get the juices pumping. MP3 Next - Too Close (Extended Version)

Yup, you could be forgiven thinking that Kieran "Four Tet" Hebdens re-version of 'Cassius' by Foals sounds a lot like something Battles would do - maybe because he'd been listening too closely to them when doing his mix of 'Tonto' last year. In any case, both are wicked, with the former being a delicate math-stomper while 'Tonto' turns up the juice on the original. Check 'em out. MP3 Foals - Cassius (Kieran Hebden Version) MP3 Battles - Tonto (Four Tet [...]

Erol Alkan seems to have reinvented himself as a producer. Following on from a few decent remixes, he's been working with the likes of the Long Blondes , Late of the Pier , and Mystery Jets . Quite when he decided to start producing I'm not sure, given that his first few stabs at remixing weren't so hot, but good luck to him anyway. The new Mystery Jets stuff is sounding rather good, and their new single featuring Laura Marling has a nice hint of summer to it. Check it out. MP3 [...]

It emerged yesterday that the French entry for Eurovision this year will only be Sebastian Tellier! The gallic eccentric responsible for the classic 'La Ritournelle' will be contributing a track from his latest album, 'Sexuality'. If you're a betting person, I recommend popping to your nearest William Hill this morning and putting a fiver on Tellier taking the title back to France, as hipsters throughout Europe will be putting patriotism aside and voting for this dude. Just look what happened to Lordi. MP3 Sebastian Tellier - Divine

This week, my blagging skills returned with an absolute vengeance. I've been the lucky recipient of: 1) Lots of free beer at the rather ace new Deaf Institute bar and venue in the southern parts of the City Centre. It's a dead good place to drink you know. MP3 Queens of the Stone Age - A Song for the Deaf 2) DJing at an opening party for the new ABode Manchester hotel. It was the quietest disco set of my life, but a couple of mates got to [...]

I've been working from home today as I've had a load of shit to do that I couldn't complete in the office. I also gave an interview to the lovely peeps over at Blog Fresh Radio , where you'll hear me in their next podcast wittering on about why I like that Little Boots tune so much. The Black Keys new album fell into my lap this week, bringing with it my long standing fear of Danger Mouse. As with his previous production that I've been scared of, he's actually kind to the band, and doesn't drown [...]

Yep, here's some more hot new goodness. I've been told today that my posts are too negative at times, so I won't mention any such things while I talk about this track by These New Puritans, a band I'm not really too fond of. Still, the premise is good; They were asked to write a track for a fashion show, did so, it was 17 minutes long, and then Tim Goldsworthy (aka the Loving Hand) let rip with a ploddy disco remix which chopped about 5.5 minutes off the originals running time and is actually damn good. Phew. [...]

My inbox has been having a rather exciting time over the last few days, which ensures that you're all in for some treats over the next week or so. In the meantime, make sure you all scoot over to my new blog which I'm writing with my main man Jon Claude. Don't worry, it won't interfere with my posts here, I'll still be updating with the usual quality and frequency you're all used to. The Shopllifters blog can be found here , though go easy on the look of it at the moment while we still tidy it up. [...]

I had the privilege of DJing with Jon Claude at the official Manchester Versus Cancer Aftershow on Saturday night at newish club MoHo Live. I was initially hesitant about the gig, and uncharacteristically nervous on the night due to the amount of old school Manchester sorts that were there in the clear belief that it's still 1988. We'd been given the brief of a "Shoplifters Classics" set, meaning big remixes guaranteed to get the crowd moving. I naturally turned to the DFA, as they've soundtracked many a party over the last few years with their redux's, [...]

Tonights episode of Later with Jools Holland has left me feeling frustrated, for the following reasons: 1) Duffy is a blonde dimwit from Wales that's been coerced into a misguided attempt at bringing back Northern Soul. 2) Asa (pronounced Asha ) reminded us all about the dangers of cod-reggae, and the responsibility we all collectively share to stamp it out. 3) Martina Topley Bird appeared to look and sound as bizarre as her name suggests, not that we hadn't sussed that out before. 4) "Stone Cold" Steve Earle was [...]

A couple of weeks ago, the Oldboy got in touch asking me what I thought of his latest disco mix. I thought it was OK, but to knock up something shorter and more about what he likes. And here it is. Here's what he had to say: "ok, so it weighs in at just under 40 minutes, not 30 and contains 29 tracks... this mix is all about me... it contains electro, new rave, dupstep, old skool garage, minimal, grime, techno, kylie, cheese, tunes about drugs, tunes about love, tunes about friends, fast mixes and tunes [...]