Unknown Zone

So, anyway, I popped to DC’s launch party for their sleeve art ‘exhibition’ at Phonica. Nothing much to report, pleasant enough vibes, good tunes from Kelpe and Richard Sen…My only real complaint is that the artwork is so unprominent it (almost) may as well not be there. Still, I suppose space issues rule….

I found out later that my sometime bosses at FACT were busy "managing" an event in the huge, basement exhibition space, with “free champagne cocktails, hot chicks and ridiculous fashion people”. The poor dears. I, alas, did not find this out til later, and instead just spent 20 minutes wheeling around pissed, unable (or rather, unwilling) to make conversation with anybody. I did smile and nod attentively when Lazerboy got talking to Depth Charge, burly head honcho of DC who looks like David Baddiel and Father Christmas’s lovechild. But not in a bad way. Turns out that L’Boy actually booked Depth Charge for a gig at the Cube cinema in Bristol, a year or so back. He was supposed to be providing a live soundtrack and new subtitles for an obscure Japanese gangster film (I forget which). Anyway, turns out he his computer crashed on the train over to Bristol, and he was unable to burn the DVD successfully thus sinking the entire enterprise. Refunds and profuse apologies had to be provided by a very stressed out Lazers. Oh well…Heidi was on good form, but we didn't see much of Simon Rigg, Phonica boss, who'll be playing our TAPE is TWO party at Mutant Pop in November - as we arrived, he disappeared into the night, a crew-cutted beast of burden with a rucksack full of flyers for tonight’s Phonica party on his back...

…Still, as I say, I was plenty pissed, so I was hardly in good shape for socializing myself. Ended up heading back to Edgware Rd HQ for some unnecessary tea and sheesha at the arab café on our street corner. I feel like my lungs are bleeding today. I’ve got to stop breathing stuff that isn’t air.

Anyway, my dear Carnage joins me in London tonight for some Konrad Black/Locodice/Henrik Schwartz etc action at The Key. Should be fun, though scoring drugs in The Key is like trying to pick up girls in a mosque; alas, the only thing I can get hold of super-easy in London is that horrible stuff you snort, and God knows that burns a hole in the wallet (not to mention the soft tissue in your nose)…Well, we’ll get by, I’m sure.

Right, still no mp3s from me. I don’t want you to think I’ve stopped giving ‘em out permanently…Sure, I am becoming increasingly guilty about giving artists’ music away, and am therefore trying to exercise more sensitivity and restraint than I used to, but there’s plenty of tuneage on way nonetheless. Don’t you worry. For now, you’ll just have to accept me talking about it, rather than doing it. Can you take that? I think you can. For now.

So this morning I was listening to a promo mix done by Damian Lazarus (pictured left) and entitled Crosstown Rebels: Vol. 1. As you might have guessed, it’s a short and sharp mix of Crosstown tunes, old and new, and it serves, as if you needed the confirmation, to highlight quite how good Rebels’ roster and back catalogue are. The mix kicks off with Minilogue’s ‘City Boy’, the B-side to ‘Hitchhiker’s Choice’ (which I’ve already enthused wildly about) – and as I tore my room apart this AM to find a clean pair of socks, I couldn’t have asked for a better musical accompaniment. It’s starts off like a wipe-clean Pier Bucci track, but gets increasingly percussive and funky, in that almost Trentemollerish way, before a build that sounds like it’s going to warp in to Vitalic’s ‘La Rock 01’. If that doesn’t sound appealing, then I don’t know what does. Anyway, I’m not sure if Crosstown Rebels Vol. 1 will be getting a proper release at any point, but keep an eye out….

I’ll tell you what’s really tickling my fancy at the moment, though; it’s the new Cobblestone Jazz (pictured above) on Wagon Repair. ‘India in Me’ delivers on every level that Jonson’s new solo 12” doesn’t (see below) – and goes down that ultra-repetitive, sleek and deep prog-house route that ‘Marionette’ so absolutely nailed. And it works ravishingly well - the arpeggiated hook is so instantly effective and memorable that I find hard to believe that ‘India in Me’ will be anything less than a big, big tune. Seriously folks, listen out for this one.

I’ll sling some mp3s your way at the weekend; have a good’n yourselves