After flipping from last month to next month, I thought it would be sensible to return to this month with Roni Size's remix of Sabotage. Big beat collides with dnb on Wall of Sound - from 1996. A reminder that Agent Provocateur was a collaboration between John Gosling (also known as Mekon), Matthew Ashman (Ex Bow Wow Wow) Dan Peppe, Danny Saber (former member of Black Grape) and female singer Cleo Torrez. The track is not as skittery as one would normally expect from Roni and underpinned with an enormous bass that wouldn't look out of [...]
Alright, having just written a big long post advising people not to be jealous... I have to confess, this event makes me more than a little envious. I know I am a hypocrite, but I didn't think it would be this obvious this soon! There is an Independent Label Market taking place in London this weekend, where the owners of independent record labels man stalls selling their own releases, and I want to be there to shop and I would very much like to be there to peddle our own wares. All the major indies - Beggars Group [...]
Start of a new month's 1212. This month Agent Provocateur, a live big beat band featuring John Gosling (aka Mekon). More about them from a previous post here . To start us off, a remix of their 1997 single Agent Dan by UNKLE. Inevitably released on Wall of Sound. The track starts with backwards sounds before building in the drums. All quite restrained and a bit as if DJ Shadow did space rock. Agent Provocateur - Agent Dan (UNKLE remix) Buy
Here are 5 great covers of Phil Spector songs to listen to while awaiting a verdict which will most likely (fingers crossed!) keep Mr. Spector in jail.
We had a post on Hustlers of Culture a while back, after which one of the band members, Richard Yori, got in touch. He agreed to do an interview about what happened to this short-lived band and the Wall of Sound deal. And there's an early track to download. 1. How the devil are you and what's the weather like where you are? Pretty good at the moment, although the weather ain’t always great. I’m “straight from the southside” [...]
With Ultra rapidly approaching, the massive lineup might be daunting for some. Lucky for you, LessThan3 has you covered. Day 1 is sure to start the festival with a bang, and while Saturday and Sunday is packed with some of the main players this year, Friday also has some can't-miss gems. Here's the scoop on what you can expect for the first day of UMF. First, the headliner. Tiesto is a big wild card this year. He’s been pumping out some serious productions over the past year, from the housed-up Zero 76 [...]
Phil Spector's Wall Of Sound turns 50.
The Human League: "Never Let Me Go [Aeroplane Remix]" [ mp3 ] The new Human League album, "Credo", drops on March 28th on Wall Of Sound. Preview the full release here .
Fresh transfer and remaster of Darlene Love’s best With the Philles catalog now in the licensing hands of Sony Legacy and EMI, the fiftieth anniversary of the label’s 1961 founding is being celebrated with a new round of reissues. First out of the gate are remastered best-of collections for the Ronettes , Crystals , Darlene Love and Phil Spector . This 17-track Darlene Love collection proves that while Ronnie Spector (nee Veronica Bennett) may have been Spector’s greatest heartthrob, Darlene Love was his vocal MVP. As the lead vocalist on key [...]
Fresh mono transfer and remaster of Ronettes’ best With the Philles catalog now in the licensing hands of Sony Legacy and EMI, the fiftieth anniversary of the label’s 1961 founding is being celebrated with a new round of reissues. First out of the gate are remastered best-of collections for the Ronettes, Crystals , Darlene Love and Phil Spector . This 18-track set includes all eight of the group’s Philles singles (all of which charted, but amazingly flew under the Top 10 except “Be My Baby”), Veronica’s “Why Don’t They Let [...]
Fresh mono transfer and remaster of the Crystals’ best The Crystals formed in 1961 with Barbara Alston as their lead singer. Quickly signed by Phil Spector for his brand new Philles label, they were the subject of the label’s very first single, first hit and first Top 20, “(There’s No Other) Like My Baby.” They struck gold again the following year with the Mann & Weil’s brilliant “Uptown” and reached #1 with Gene Pitney’s “He’s a Rebel.” Oddly, the latter single, the group’s only chart topper, was recorded by a completely different set of [...]
Fresh mono transfer and remaster of Spector’s best In the lull between the primordial spark of ‘50s rock ‘n’ roll and the ‘60s echo brought by the British Invasion, Phil Spector reinvented the pop single. He broke into the music industry in the late ‘50s with his group, The Teddy Bears, and subsequently elevated the stature of “record producer” with his unique Wall of Sound methods. Starting in New York, and eventually decamping to Los Angeles, Spector’s fame eclipsed that of his artists. Though the Ronettes and Crystals got star billing, and the [...]
Eighteen of the best of the best of the sixties girl groups.
After the Wall of Sound Records track by Hustlers of Culture yesterday, I thought we might dig back to the origins of Wall of Sound and go for Agent Provocateur's first single on lovely 103 in 1994. This track is acually from the remix 103, also issued in 1994. The remix is from Artery, an early pseudonym for Jon Carter. Agent Provocateur (previously here ) were associated with Mekon. As discogs says: Agent Provocateur was a collaboration between John Gosling (also known as Mekon ), Matthew Ashman (Ex Bow Wow Wow ) Dan Peppe, Danny Saber [...]
Some hip hop funky beats - yes, big beat - from Hustlers of Culture back in 1996. And, yes, issued on Wall of Sound records. Hustlers of Culture were Matt Dykes, Richard Yari and Phil Dykes. They released two albums and a small handful of singles, of which this - the B Side to the "Kickin' Off" 103 - was their last. Hustlers of Culture - Original Hustler Buy
British/American electro/dance duo Ocelot are prepping the release of an album along with an EP together with Bird Peterson. As a teaser for all the upcoming goodies, here's a compilation of their remix work. This includes their thumping reworkings for artists such as Robyn, Röyksopp, Juiceboxxx, Toxic Avenger and The Killers etc. Ocelot - Remixes Vol. 1 (zip file, Mediafire)
An earnest 1970 tribute to Phil Spector Originally released in 1970 on the Vault label, this is the earliest known album tribute to the songs made famous by Phil Spector. Numerous artists had taken a crack at imitating Spector’s Wall of Sound, but this was the first, of what turned out to be many, album tributes to the Tycoon of Teen. The Monday Blues are more of a soft-rock vocal group in the Mamas and Papas vein than a pop group, and the arrangements have more in common with the then-emerging singer-songwriter sound than [...]
It's still difficult to reconcile the harrowing portraits of Phil Spector presented by Mark Ribowsky and Mick Brown with the heart-tugging legacy of the Wall of Sound. The awe-inspiring images of the teen tycoon depicted by Tom Wolfe and Richard Williams now seem whitewashed, but they make lovely companions to the heart and soul still heard in Spector's records. Spector apparently loved the celebration of Christmas so much that he claimed to have been born on December 25th, but most reliable records now date his birth to December 26, 1940, [...]
A music video made specifically for headphones enjoyment, the new acoustic clip from Swimming for "Sun In The Island" is more of their exceptionally tripped out acid pop arrangements with walls and ceilings of sound, built to surround and engulf the listener. The clip itself finds the UK boys with all sorts of amplifiers and [...]
Some jazzy, downtempo lounge beats from Dirty Beatniks going all the way back to 1996. This is right back to the start of their career. Dirty Beatniks previously featured here . As a recap: The Dirty Beatniks were Justin Underhill, Mau, Neil Higgins and Rory Carlile. They came to prominence in the mid-1990s as Big Beat was peaking in the UK but had a less heavy sound than others on the Wall of Sound label. Dirty Beatniks - Perfect Rhyme Buy
Acid Ted
Song, by Toad
Cover Me
LessThan3
Music @ Blogcritics.org
Last Gas Station
Hyperbolium
Discobelle.net
THE CULTURE OF ME
Boards of Canada – Reach For The Dead
Ace by @thebigsleepnyc #nowplaying
Spicy Tempeh and Broccoli Rabe Protein Punched by City Light, Magic Man and Smallpools
WONGIE SONG OF THE WEEK: jessie j feat big sean and dizzee rascal - wild
