ireallylovemusic

good bye blogger.com

2006-08-01T10:34:00.000Z

hello.

following last weeks pain, can i please introduce you to the latest kid on the blogging block :

http://www.ireallylovemusic.co.uk/blog

rss feed :

http://ireallylovemusic.co.uk/blog/?feed=rss2

the archive has been dragged over, all links are active, and so after a week or so i will delete this one, so please update your bookmarks/rss feeds. unless you care not.

onwards !

mark e

ireallylovemusic

gosh : blowback

2006-07-31T13:33:00.000Z

well that one got posted !

so here's some more.

you know when you wander into cool, beautifully designed clothes/record shops and think, why cant there be magazines like this.

especially free ones.

well, of course, there is : blowback.

blowback magazine is a half size magazine but still packs it all in. beautiful art and design, funked up visuals. all over the place writings and so much more, and yes in the archives are a few words here and there written by yours truly (the akira the don interview was my career highlight !)

until recently, blowback was a printed pleasure only.

however, recently they pulled their fingers and launched a proper website.

admittedly, the use of embedded frames can be a little tricky, but work with it as there is all manner of goodness on offer.

next up : drones and thrones. maybe.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

testing the waters: circlesquare

2006-07-31T12:26:00.000Z

after last weeks disastrous attempt at blogging - here's another one.

a day or two in london has provided all manner of interesting things to absorb some of which may be mentioned here, however, there is probably a lot that wont.

did you realise i was such a grisly tease?

but all of that tittle tattle pales into insignificance when placed alongside the glorious fight sounds ep by the artist known as circlesquare.

deep empty space infultrated by bleeps, monotonic vocals and drum machines on low power never sounded so perfect.

i mean really, go find, buy, or otherwise : now.

circlesquare : website

m.e/ireallylovemusic

as heard ..

2006-07-27T08:23:00.000Z

.. .on the chris moyles show this morning of all places !

new signing to the beats label, example gives lily allens 'smile' the old fashioned response treatment.

so being the public service provider i am, here are the details

vile : mp3

myspace hangout

official website

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

dance your ass off

2006-07-26T19:42:00.000Z

people.

if this posts makes it through the blogger.com system i'll be somewhat aghast considering the grief the bloody thing has given me recently.

however todays chunk of words is to tell you that things @ ireallylovemusic hq are in a new mood.

as i have mentioned previously, i go through periods of disinterest. normally when this happens, i fall back on certain forms of comfort music, reggae is a good one, or in my case, my old madness records, though more recently this has been replaced with rachel stevens last cd !

well earlier this week i started to feel a little fed up with the current pile. nothing was really doing it for me.

then out of nowhere i received an email from a techno label, rednetic.

having a dig around their nice and minimal site, i came across the detail that one of their tracks ('life in widescreen' - by mint) has been licenced to the recent steve lawler mix, viva. so i dug the mix out, and gave the relevant disc a spin. wow.

i loved the pure simplicity of the grooves, with modern synthetic ambience, massive widescreen productions and the deeper than deep beats and bass lines.

i didn't have to care about the vocals, there aren't any, nor do i have to respect the variety in cutting edge production, styles etc. tis just a great set of pounding machine made noises (sometimes not so pounding) that work really well. no weird experimetal laptop crunching, no major sonic twists and turns, and so the mix became a wonderful addition to the current pile to work to.

this sonically induced pleasure then made me dig out the other dance mixes i have received recently, and, ever since, i have thoroughly enjoyed them on constant rotation to the point of concern to others around me. it's possibly something to do with the non-human aspect of the groove music, my head aint being battered by blokes and gals telling me all about their problems, or giving cause for their anger. this is perfectly disco-nnected music for the head, pure technology enhanced music where bad moods need not apply.

in fact, a lot of this is almost like ambient music. its just there on the headphones making my head bop, but not really engaging on any other level other than a rhythmic enjoyment. it has been a long time since i enjoyed pure dance music as much as this, but these mixes have totally been spot on this week :

steve lawler - lights out 3

james holden - at the controls

hernan cattaneo - sequential

john digweed - transitions

dave seaman - the masters series - vol 7

damian lazarus/matthew styles - get lost (disc 1 especially - disc 2 gets a little too weird and strange !)

steve lawler - viva (disc 3 is a more ambient set than you'd normally expect from steve)

so, please forgive the lack of updates, i'm off to have a little dance, well in my head that is.

ta.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

typically glorious.

2006-07-25T18:44:00.000Z

that previous post got through !

so with no nonsense. no frills.

here's the music

band : diefenbach

track : glorious

remix : silent running.

it's good.

enjoy.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

alternatives to blogger.com ?

2006-07-25T18:12:00.000Z

go on then. i give up.

any suggestions - especially if i can suck all the blogger.com postings over ?

i have emailed so many postings recently - all into the ether.

guess its time to move on.

this party is obviously over.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

friday treat - part 1

2006-07-21T10:14:00.000Z

folks.

another treat to beat the heat to.

this time it's a little special for anyone who chilled out way back in the 90's to the masters of the spaced out instrumental hip hop groove skylab.

matt ducasse, aka skylab, is now involved with the live band for new electro kitten anne booty, aka coco electrik.

so, for the forthcoming single, apple pie, matt has revived his much loved alter-ego, and applied his trademarked sugar dust coating, giving the delicate stripped down electro of the original, a certain widescreen glitterstomp beat, that will make fans of goldfrapp grin like cheshire cats.

more detail : coco electrick :

apple pie : skylab remix :

oh, the coco electrik album, army behind the sun, is due any day now.

fun fun and some more fun.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

archive : again : mp3

2006-07-18T09:20:00.000Z

hello.

in the uk things are hot hot hot at the moment. so much so that it feels unnatural to listen to fast-n-furious disco-electro-punk'd up dance music and the need to keep the groove somewhat mellow. with this in mind, i started digging through my archives when i remembered archive.

a band which originally started out as a trip hop band who released a couple of well received albums on a major (island records) and then from the casual fan disappeared.

however, the story didn't end there. the band changed personal, regrouped, and somehow released a third album, 'you all look the same to me' on hangman records.

the packaging was wonderful, so whenever the album was in the bargain bins i always looked and wondered exactly what the record would sound like. eventually, curiosity got the better of me.

so i cracked the seal on the cd and read the notes. the album consists of 7 tracks, 2 of which are over 16 minutes, and the rest never fall below 5 !

hmmm. something had changed.

within the thank you notes i think there is a clue. 'dave gilmour'. having listened to the awesome 16 minute opener, 'again', recently, the debt to pink floyd is hugely obvious.

the slow build up, the use of sci-fi production, the swelling hammond organ riffs, the timeless epic nature of the music makes this rather special. gone are the trip hop timestamps, gone are the girl vocals, cliched raps, and instead the band have stepped aside from the usual chart bound musics.

the rest of the album has nods towards more experimental noises (ambient, industrial soundscapes are often referenced in the sonic detail), showing that they had a desire to delve into machine based extras alongside their grandiose mix of talk talk and massive attack.

basically, if you see this album looking lonely in the sales racks, i cannot stress enough how you should give this album a try.

so to tease you some more, and to celebrate ireallylovemusic getting a chunkier chunk of webspace, here is the full length version of 'again' : here

kick back, relax, open a magazine and let this slice of excellence help you drift off.

oh, and to finish off. the band are still going. just that no-one uk-side seems to be interested as their latest album has been released on the french division of warners, with no definite plan to release the record locally. so head over to the bands site and practise your french.

thank you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

new stuff

2006-07-13T15:51:00.000Z

ok.

time for some names that are in the pile at the moment.

- deaf stereo - house on fire/blackout falls - more of that guitar punk'd up disco groove. not bad but surely there is a lot of this about now ? more detail : here

- jurassic 5 - feedback - album sampler - having read a lot about the band letting cut chemist loose i was somewhat concerned as to just how their style would change. well this 5 tracker certainly implies the effect has been rather minimal. ok, the appearance of dave mathews is questionable, but other than a nice slice of guitar on the track, the guest is hardly noticeable. however, what is far far worse, is the use of boney m's brown girl in the ring for 'brown girl (suga plum)' .. hated the original, hated this. thankfully, the other tracks have that same happy summer old school hip hop vibe that the j5 are so good at. a lot more polished and clean sounding than previous releases. its very clear that the band are aiming for the charts crossover a la black eyed peas as they introduce a heav dose of singing/harmony in a world conquering r-n-b style. which aint my thing. but hey, the band deserve some time in the charts i reckon having worked their way through the college circuit. so, not bad, just not that special either.

- yungun/mr thing - forget me not - 2 of uk hip hops finest team up and get all smooth for the lead track. the bass is so going to mellow the hardest of moods, and the laid back sample loops will make the ladeez melt. yeah, this is hip hop for late night lovers, and its not tacky in the slightest. fine fine stuff. more detail : here

humanzi - tremors - at last the album makes it to the release schedule. i received a 5 track sampler ages ago and hammered it to within an inch of its life, despite knowing that there are sections of the online world that are going to cough up blood over their cornflakes due to the back-to-basics approach of the music (ie they dont play the 'cool' card at all to whcih i say - hurrah !). in fact, in some ways the bands way with manic guitars and a melody recalled some fine 90's alt.rock heros of mine. the sound is massively in yer face, and quite simply rocks. new single, 'diet pills and magazines' will please anyone who remembers music prior to the electro-punk-disco revival. tis straightforward powered up rock with a simplistic primal beat and a radio airplay baiting shoutout 'this is the shit, so get used to it!'. in my world this band would be number 1. proper review to appear in the usual place. more detail : here

the sunshine underground - raise the alarm - album sampler. tis all about the 6 minute title track really isn't it. funked up guitars, manic cowbells, wah wah excess. it rocks, and it dances like a bez on freaky pills. scarily over the top fun. more detail : here

that'll do for now.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

exclusive : t.raumschmiere : interview

2006-07-12T17:17:00.000Z

following on from previous posting...

the interview with t.raumschmiere is now online : here

ta muchlike.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

from one extreme ..

2006-07-12T16:28:00.000Z

hello.

watchers of the blog will be aware that yesterday i posted the interview with james banbury from ambient folks infantjoy.

today, over 12 months after the original emails went out, i get the response from my favourite industrial-electro-techno monster, t.raumschmiere.bonus points in that marco has given some fine answers as opposed to the expected 2 finger salute type of attitude.

in my world that's a result

not only that, but today i received a single cd sampler of the epic 4 cd boxset that the glorious art of noise via the nostalgic but still compelling ztt records, are set to release in august this year. the sampler has all manner of excellently remastered tracks that i only ever heard on an 80's cutting edge chrome cassingle through a dodgy boombox, that chewed tapes on a regular basis. so to hear in full stereo the full length majesty that is 'moments in love' was really quite special. of course i fully expect the 4 cd package to be similar to the act boxset in that they really scrape the edges of the barrel (a 24 minute version of Diversions ??), but as a revived fan of the ztt mystery, i for one am not complaining in the slightest.

oh, and in case you were wondering, paul morley of the art of noise is now part of infantjoy. funny how it all comes around sometimes.

aint life grand somedays ?

mark e

ireallylovemusic

sunshine grooves and melllow moves

2006-07-11T18:00:00.000Z

hello.

just a quick note to advise of some new stuff posted.

- reviewed and tracklisted the new trojan reggae mix by andy smith

- reviewed the fine new uk hip hop mixtape by dj mk

- posted interview with james banbury from infantjoy, which leads me to why i was oggling at the line up for the big chill festival which is now online over : here.

of all the seasons festivals this is the one i would love to experience properly, (especially the friday as infantjoy are supposed to be performing). after my glastonbury funk of 2005, the ireallylovemusic gang had decided to give the big chill a rare full family outing this year. however, a few months ago, our youngest officially became a monster, so we pulled the idea for fear of our lives (and those that would be subjected to the monsters activities), and tried out the much more mainstream cornbury festival to see just how the monster and festival thing would work out. i'm still trying to work out if the outcome was a result or not, only time will tell.

in the meantime, back to oggling the lineup and dreaming of the much needed calm.

oh, and a word to the wise - the andy smith mix is going to really mess up my playlist, as it's going to instigate a full on reggae revival @ ireallylovemusic hq.

onwards !

mark e

ireallylovemusic

"are those your shoes sir ?"

2006-07-10T20:23:00.000Z

after years of short sharp garage, electro, punk guitar pop records filling the racks, things seem to be going in a different direction.

well if the last few days are anything to go by.

friday - i open the new mojo - the review for the new album by 'the morning after girls' is riddled with the usual sidekicks to the scene the spawned some glorious records, mainly by swervedriver, making me wonder just why do people hate the scene so much, considering the heaven scraping noise that often came out of the effects pedals.

saturday - i happened to catch at the cornbury festival (more on this later), one time major label indie hopefuls, goldrush live. now reborn with their own success on self run truck records, and a massive chunk of layered guitar excellence much to my pleasant surprise. the sheer force of their live show was mighty impressive for aband so fey on the one record i have (an issue soon to be corrected thanks to the usual places). oh, and research indicates that the band are to be collaborating with my laptop mate pedro. result and a double dose of pleasure one would like to hope. more news as and when i get it re that particular situation.

more detail : here

sunday - i dropped the forthcoming anonymous promo album by the somatics into the machine. 7 tracks 53 minutes. huh? what no gang of four riffs. nope. instead, it's major length epic guitars, reach for the sky songs, and so much more. once again, research helps. this band are a long awaited offspring from long forgotten progmeisterz ultrasound. all becomes so much more clear. the album is epic beyond its postal code constraints(they are being branded as part of the thriving leeds scene), and will hopefully prove to all that hear it, that songs can last longer than 3 minutes and still be totally magical.

more detail : here

i fully realise that these 3 bands will want to avoid any such associations with the scene that is almost derided (see what i did there) as musc as trip hop, but damn, layers of noise, harmonies, beards and trumpets sometimes really can make the world a better place.

back in my other world, posted words on the new dj mk mixtape on antidote, as well as a chunk of singles that grace the july release schedule, watched the superb dvd that subtle have released (wishingbone : cd/dvd package) with some weird messy remixes on lex records.

listened to the new album by huski a lot. which for those that don't know is maple bees (aka melanie gartside) new electro-pop project : detail here

oh, and i became strangley fascinated with the genre busting sound team album, whoever they are.

more tomorrow.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

exclusive : performance : video : mp3

2006-07-04T14:48:00.000Z

ok folks.

going into some new territory here, but here's something to keep the summer going that little bit longer. quite a while ago i was lucky enough to get to hear the latest in electro infused pop bands, performance, and was rather impressed by the obvious love for art school melodrama, visage, analogue synths and generally all that is good about pop music.

the band have a delicious text heavy website : here

so far it's all been about one track here (surrender - released back in november), and a remix there. but word reaches me that things are on the move.

so without further ado let's check out the new video for new single 'short sharp shock', which does exactly as it says on the tin: here

but sod that visual malarkey, what about those old school audio only mp3 players.

well, just for you here's a rather fine sounding : mp3

careful with that download now - especially as the ep proper is out july 17th.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

video killed .. wolfmother

2006-07-04T10:20:00.000Z

from time to time, ireallylovemusic loves to pretend to have a full head of hair and let rip to some full on balls out rock-n-roll, and in those rare moments, aus band wolfmother fulfil all such urges. so with this in mind, i have decided to pass on some news thats just dropped into the inbox :

rock behemoths wolfmother want you to create your own 30-second video for new single woman! all you need to do is record yourself or your friends re-interpreting the video for new single woman on your mobile phone or digital camera and then mms or email your video to the following email address wolfmother@moblg.net.
all videos submitted will be housed on the specially created official uk wolfmother moblog site with the best entrant as chosen by the band - winning a pair of vip tickets to the carling weekend reading festival! one lucky runner-up will receive signed copies of the crumpled paper frames from the original 'woman' video.
further details on the competition can be found at www.wolfmother.co.uk

you've been given the heads up, so, get to it.

in other news : posted links to the new freelance hellraiser and ladyfuzz videos, should have an interview with infantjoy sorted out soon(ish), reviewed new london band, ray, old school ambient techno brilliance from outputmessage, 80's big clever pop from heaven 17, and even a review of that rather unpleasant lily allen album that everyone else loves.

i reckon that'll do you for today.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

the freelance hellraiser vs lily allen

2006-06-27T18:23:00.000Z

folks.

for some strange reason, i feel at odd with the rest of the music loving world.

evidence of my current dilemma is now posted in the usual place : here

however, here's the deal in a nutshell :

i love the freelance hellraiser album, 'waiting for clearance', and dislike the lily allen album, 'alright, still'.

i realise that i am doing a u-turn from my previous postings about lily, but damn, i'm allowed.

so with that in mind, can i post details for a forthcoming event that if i were so lucky, i would love to attend.

why the urge to attend?

well, jacknife lee is a man whose path i have been interested in for quite a while, and so i'd love to check out his dj skills as i reckon anyone with the cv like his, is going to play some pretty full on tracks, after all, compulsion > jacknife lees solo albums > u2 is quite a path.

not forgetting the sarah nixey appearance !

someone go and report back.

ta.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

the joe beats experiment present : indie rock blues

2006-06-21T14:15:00.000Z

hell.o

i am not ashamed to admit it, but i love a chunk of laid back instrumental hip hop styled grooves from time to time, add a slice of cinematic ambience, a twisted sample here and there, and i'll smile like a cheshire cat. of course, in recent times, the very phrase, 'trip hop' has the masses running in abject horror as it conjures up the worst of never ending morcheeba compilations.

thankfully, the original concept of mellow hip hop beats, and deftly applied sonic experimentation is not totally dead with the release of the latest joe beats project.

for those that aren't aware, joe beats provided the loops and noises on the excellent non-prophets album, upon which sage francis dropped his noir edged paranoia and verbal heaviness. this time around, joe has taken some (un)loved indie records and mangled them, delicately, oh so very delicately, added layers of late night ambience, reverb, vocal snippets and dubbed up bass lines backlined by some very nice and easy sloppy beats.

the result, 'the joe beats experiemt presents indie rock blues', is a wonderful 43 minutes dj mixtape that has no connection whatsoever with the glut of g-unit mixtapes, instead the overall feeling is that of pure and originality.

dig around joes site for an example mp3 and see if you like it as much as i do.

in fact, putting it simply, this does to melancholic indie rock (coldplay fans need not apply), what dj shadow/cut chemist's brainfreeze did to old soul records, yes, it is indeed that good.

damn, i was determined not to mention dj shadow, oh well.

so, now i guess the only problem is coining a new genre tag for this ..

mark e

ireallylovemusic

sarah nixey : izumi records : dennis bovell

2006-06-20T13:59:00.000Z

folks.

just so you know. via the wonderful pete ingo, (go find his debut album 'ps i cuddle a box', on moshi moshi records, and give it a good home will you), i have come to find out about the izumi record label. a process of discovery, which sometimes troubles me, what happens if i dont like the music my esteemed contact is wishing to pass on to me, we may fall out over this and i never get to hear his forthcoming second album.

thankfully, i should have known better, pete is a man with superlative taste (have you still not heard, 'ps, i cuddle a box' ? tsk tsk) and his recommendation is totally spot on.

so far, i have been given the chance to hear 3 of the labels limited seriously heavyweight 7" singles, and i have to pass on the love as they are all bloody good.

more details : here

in other news : full review for new sarah nixey single, 'strangelove', psapp's new album, 'the only thing i ever wanted', as well as details on the new dennis bovell reissues that are dead cheap in fopp at the moment, and well worth checking out.

so there you have it, excellent old fashioned indie guitars, a little laptop freakery, and some deeper than deep dub excess. what more could you ask for !

till next time people.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

orson records : sarah nixey : temposhark

2006-06-15T13:53:00.000Z

folks.

some stuff to go discover.

new double cd mix, called 'the two headed monster' by up and coming uk techno label : orson.

cd 1 : craig richards

cd 2 : transparent sound

basically, the cds incorporate lots of minimal techno from various labels and artists that i have little information on other than an appearance by my fave glitterpunktechno star t.raumschmiere so i'm very happy.

then there is the new solo single by sarah nixey. released on serviceav records, which seems to have been spawned by the infantjoy project (paul morley, james banbury). the lead track, strangelove, is a superb electro pop track that should appeal to any fans of goldfrapp, but the package is fleshed out with all manner of remixes involving comma, pete davis (??) and infantjoy themselves. weirdly, the label have decided that the superb peter hook basslined filled version by the freelance hellraiser is to be only available via itunes. so for all your ipod sparkly electro dreams, head over and get yourself connected.

in other news : temposhark may have just released a cracking new single called joy (as reviewed by yours truly of course), but yesterday i happened upon a couple of promo copies of their demo verison of the still unreleased debut album recorded back in 2004. alongside 8 tracks of which a few have been released as singles, are a couple of remixes and one bootleg track, 'tom plays with his diner' that incorporates one ms. s. vega in the mix.

i may post it to the blog should anyone be interested.

till next time.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

age of chance - a new era

2006-06-12T13:24:00.000Z

myspace vs age of chance : here

inevitable.

necessary.

essential.

get to it.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

free dangerdoom stuff

2006-06-09T14:11:00.000Z

hey there again.

tis friday - so how about a double bonus points extra. adult swim (cartoon creators with a dark side over there in the usa), have put together a free album of remixes, skits and suchlike by danger mouse/mf doom.

i haven't heard it yet, and pitchfork gave it a fairly low grade, however it's free. so click-ety-click : here

and see what you think

so, hot enough for you then ?

mark e

ireallylovemusic

thomas dolby : gig report : si schroeder : mp3

2006-06-09T10:20:00.000Z

hell.o

after years of knocking on the door, i have at last been accepted.

a rather dramatic statement admittedly, but the acceptance of some of my words by online magazine playlouder was always one of my 'goals' when i set up ireallylovemusic all those years ago.

so when this :

http://www.playlouder.com/feature/+thomas-dolby/

went live earlier this week, my heart did a little jump for joy, despite that it blows the long held secret of my surname.

of course, it's been remixed a little, so at some point in the near future i will post the full phat version in the usual place.

i've always one for a little buttering up, so when someone gives me some kind words i cannot help be be swayed, and perhaps a little concerned.

so, without further ado, please check out this little nugget of noise by si schroeder, 'lavendermist : here

released via the irish label, trust me i'm a thief, the song is a wonderful slice of fuzzy guitar layers and lazy summer harmonies, which will please anyone who was somewhat disappointed with the last dandy warhols album.

dunno about you, but that's this weekends soundtrack sorted.

be careful out there - it's gonna be a scorcher.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

more more more

2006-06-01T15:35:00.000Z

folks.

despite the urge to totally give up the chase of the groove and realign my inner being with all things FAX related, i have been pulled out of the slump by the arrival of one album by a certain pop princess, lily allen. 11 tracks of pure, bad mouthed pop joy.

how on earth she expects that each of these tracks could be lifted as a single without editting is beyond me.

soap and water young lady.

don't get me wrong, its not nasty stuff, just liberal use of the F word, and too bloody right says i.

the album is a riotous ride of modern dance beats, laid back ska bumps, lily's lifestyle adventures and so much more besides.

love it.

(promotion bit : the album 'alright, still' will be released by regal on july 17th, with single 'smile' a couple of weeks before : more detail : here)

also - if you happen to be in london town this weekend and are in need of some deck spinning entertainment, then i suggest you read the flyer below rather carefully.

yes - tis indeed that john leckie. the man has been behind the controls for so many great great albums its beyond belief that he has aspirations to be cutting it up on the ones and twos amongst the disco hunks-n-bunnies.

hats off the freelance hellraiser for getting this rather interesting dj appearance sorted.

now, someone please go, take pictures, and post'em on the ireallylovemusic message board.

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

old ghosts come back : FAX and joy zipper

2006-05-30T19:57:00.000Z

hell.o

it's mad what some people take down to their local charity shop

now, i fully understand how good stuff ends up in the bins of charity shops in student areas, but i live in the middle of nowhere, a place where coldplay are the cutting edge. so imagine my shock and downright excitement when i chanced upon a mint copy of Pete Namlooks 'namlook 2' album. released way back in 93 (ish) on the genre defining FAX label, namlook 2 is a live recording (as were all the namlook x albums i seem to recall), in which 74 minutes of the usual electronic noises, swooshes and such, are made under the banner 'the dutch side of the milky way'.

now, if you like me, have a secret stash of FAX releases waiting for that pension cash-in day, then you will know that golden era FAX cds are rather collectable on well known auction sites as the originals were released in limited (1000) copies, the ultimate 'gotta catch em all' situation

so i was rather chuffed. however, despite not having time nor inclination to jump into 74 minute drones and random white noises again like its 1994 all over again, i decided to try this out. and woe betide me, it's rather lovely stuff, especially when one has to work and needs something to sooth the brain.

thankfully my original addiction for "ambient crack" lasted a little over 12 months, and in that time i amassed quite a FAX collection i must say. maybe with my current love for all things dogsquad, richard h. kirk related i should completely devolve and just get the dusty box out of the archive and forget all about chords-n-guitars and begin to lie down again when listening to music. after all, a change is as good as a rest.

like i said, it's mad what some people take down to their local charity shop - so look carefully.

in other news : word has reached me that joy zipper have decided to crack on with recording a new album and not bother releasing last years 'the heartlight set' in america, as this would mean that they would continue to be one album out of date in certain areas of the world (ie usa), so jump on those import copies as the album is a perfect set of songs that do have several chords and melodies.

even more news : reviews for the new sonic youth, boykillboy, and being 747 albums have been posted in the usual place.

now - please forgive me if i go quiet for a while - i need to respect the silence

mark e

ireallylovemusic.

chicago - the funk

2006-05-26T10:58:00.000Z

hey let's forget about any chances of a summer and get straight to the action.

last week in chicago provided plenty of musical enjoyment - so here's a quick rundown of the adventures of ireallylovemusic.

first up as mentioned previously was the thomas dolby gig at maryrs bar up in the lakeview area. a solo show. which considering he hasn't released any music for many a year, made me concerned i was about to partake in an evening with thomas a piano and little else. well my concerns were way off course, several hundred mirror images of oneself (grey hair and blad spots) were out in force to catch up with the mad professor of pop. all the classics were laid out if pure clean digital form, with thomas being a true showman, gadgets, stories and tunes that sound as fresh and wonderful now as they did back then were dusted down and given a spit and clean. songs as perfect as 'windpower', 'one of our submarines is missing' and my all time fave dolby track' 'budapest by blimp' literally gave me goosebumps - vocally, thomas used effects to layer and elevate to spellbinding effect.

the extended standing ovation after each track obviously came as a shock to the bespecatcled one, but he obviously forgets that for over 10 years we have had no detail as to what is going on. so his reappearance was very welcome - and the crowd definitely was going to make sure he knew just how appreciated and loved his music still is, despite the fact that mopst of his back catalogue is deleted (i mean 'the flat earth' is a true classic!). catch his forthcoming one off in london - if only to see the elevating keyboard and shout 'science!' at every opportunity (hint : don't)

so the next day with the hangover-n-post gig euphoria in action i happened upon a couple of colourful tracksuited guys outside chi-town mainstay marshall fields. quickly spotting each with a set of cds i struck a conversation. seems like i had chanced upon a local hip hop guru called barry, who releases records under the alias 'ill-noiz' (who's from illinois - geddit?). so after exchanging pleasantries, and catching an impromtu performance, i came away with his solo joint, 'illegal'. dropping the cd into the machine back at the hard rock hotel, i quickly realised that i had struck lucky. while the flow on the street was more r-n-b flavoured (not my thing), the album is head boppin' straight up hip hop, slow-n-moody beats, plenty of attitude and some raw lyrical wordplay.

keep your eyes peeled for the man to get noticed by the relevant people. the album proves that major labels are missing out on some fine quality - check the smoothness of 'smoke my life away' with backing harmonies by yaya, or the club friendly loops of 'aja' (featuring jason). it's all very authentic sounding with simple stripped down production (12tones, red october, mastermind) keeping it tight-n-funky.

like i said - i struck lucky. very.

next up on my adventure was the friday night advneture that involved a few hours inside the funky budda club. little did i know prior to my arrival, it was to be the launch night for a local bands second album. royce are an synth-guitars indie pop band on a local hip hop label, galapagos4. the band play wonderfully addictive pop that references air and beck, while adding a dash of de la soul into the mix. pure perfection for sunshine filled days, if we were so lucky. being the cheeky (ie drunk) monkey i am, i came away with a copy of their excellent new album, 'tuff love', in order to find out more.

subsequently, for the last few days, this album has been on constant rotation. there is a mood and feel to the album that ranges from pure dance hip hop pop of 'girls on bikes', to slightly more surreal and off kilter electro synth sonics. it's the sort of album that if certain tracks were played on radio 1 during the daytime schedule would easily pull in the punters, both casual listeners and the more discerning of folks.

so there you have it : several top recommendations people : royce, ill-noiz, and of course thomas dolby.

it's a mad mad world.

onwards and upwards

mark e

ireallychicago

industrial sized enjoyment

2006-05-25T14:04:00.000Z

folks.

is it me - but the charts are full of miserable bands at the moment who need to cheer the fuck up.

where's the fun?

thankfully the ireallylovemusic inbox provided the necessaries today in full poptastic form to wipe away any such moodiness.

basically on 17th july 2006, the lovely memphis industries are releasing the long awaited album by the polka dotted mistresses of pop, 'the pipettes', 'we are the pipettes', 33 minutes. 14 tracks of pure 60's pop innocence, but with a devilish grin lurking beneath the shine. the album rattles along at a whip cracking speed, loves you and leaves you hangin on for more.

the perfect antidote to the glum that saturates the airwaves.

in the same package, was the new one album by absentee, 'schmotime', which is far far better than i would have ever believed from the cd-r i received by them a long long time ago (pre-band setup), as well as forthcoming albums by black neon (ohhhh i like this, but i will save this for another day), and beach boys loving the russian futurists.

best label of the year (again) for me ?

quite possibly

mark e

ireallylovemusic

checking in ..

2006-05-23T10:33:00.000Z

folks.

so here i am back in front of a keyboard.

feels weird considering the last 10 days or so. first things first.

chicago is a gorgeous place to visit - i cannot recommend it enough if anyone gets the opportunity. stunning skyline, warm atmosphere, i met so many cool/interesting people, of whom i will be in touch with shortly, if they happen to chance upon this part of my world.

so, to the music side of things. well despite being in the city of the home of the blues, acid house and wax trax, i actually managed to catch uk synth pop genius thomas dolby live in a small packed out venue called martyrs. the gig was fantastic. thomas has decided to re-enter the pop music world, and for me personally the night was very special.

i hope to get that written up in a more enjoyable form over the next few days, so please bear with me as i have to attack the pile of cds that greeted me upon my homecoming.

aside from yet another grizzly england world cup song (featuring sham 69 and graham coxon !), the pile was full of stuff that i need to check out :

new sonic youth album, boykillboy album (initial play didn't reveal too much beyond it being a direct rip off of bloc party/the departure/franz ferdy and their brand of revised new wave), new release from new flesh, and i may even try out the dirty pretty things record, but lets not get too carried away.

in reality all i would like to do is check out a new shining ep on the bleeporama label dust science, by someone called dan curtin.

so, when things settle down, i'll hopefully get the ball rolling again..

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

stuff this

2006-05-11T09:03:00.000Z

folks.

the pile hasn't been sorted due to real life pressures.

so here's a quick rundown on how to soundtrack the return of the sun :

king biscuit time : black gold - despite the fact that steve mason has pulled the plug on this new project following the demise of the best alt.pop band ever (the beta band in case you hadn't noticed), the label are still going to release the album. so if you've ever enjoyed pop music at its most interesting in which machine noises and proper instruments are blended together while steve does his trademarked layered vocal tricks. basically a damn fine album full of lovely twists and turns. let's just hope he's ok : link

hernan cattaneo : sequential - double cd of fairly stand house-techno music. beautiful packaging, some gorgeous grooves mixed to perfection, but a little too clean for my tastes. out now on renaissance

national forest : one million - second album from this bedroom boffin of sweet and delicate electronica with some proper instruments added to the mix. did someone say that folktronica was dead. not going to make end of year lists, but one that will make people feel all cozy and warm. several tracks feature welcome vocals by such folks as the lead singer from morning runner, matthew greener, manda rin and jacob fletcher. summary : a nice album for nice people. link

statik presents grindie (vol 1). oh yes grindie. grime + indie innit. this is a mad 75 minute mash mix by scene leader, statik. features such clashes between franz ferdinand, maximo park, bloc party etc etc, and the grime beat masters such as lethal bizzle, and a lot of statik touchups. so, having read up on this buzz for a while now, do i actually like it? well apart from the name (which is awful) i guess i do. it's often a wild and dynamic noise, and if in the wrong mood will induce headaches aplenty. but it's an interesting direction for all concerned, and may even surprise us over the next few months if the experiment actually clicks and generates some proper crush collision songs. apparently this 64 track mash is going to be available for free from certain record shops. so eyes sharp, or check out statiks myspace page : link

anyway, best start packing the suitcase.

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

ireallylovemusic vs chicago : sods law in full effect.

2006-05-08T10:12:00.000Z

hell.o

expect a period of surreal calm over @ ireallylovemusic, as in less than 7 days i head off to the big city lights of chicago on work related funkiness. subsequently 7 days of gig opportunites meant i checked the listings, and, would you adam and eve it, the ninjatune crews are in town the day before i get there ! one self, coldcut and even dj vadim each performing a mere few hours prior to my arrival.

so that's one big grrrrr i got going on.

then, last week, i receive the new cd by deadstring brothers. a 1972 exile on main street styled country rock-n-roll album on bloodshot records. so, checking the sleeve art more closely, i find that the label are chi-town based. way hey. not only that, but the label is home to one jon langford - oh yes, one of the legendary three johns himself.

however, once again, a little digging reveals that the band are to play the nearest gig-centric town the day i have to pack and say ta ra to the family.

i mean, am i jinxed or what ?

having said all that, i have found that thomas dolby is playing a couple of shows at a venue called matrys, so that could be interesting.

of course, if there are such things as readers of this gubbins are from the home of wax trax, then please give me some pointers as to how/where/when i can fill some of my time.

onwards !

mark e

ireallylovemusic

lily allen - the mixtape

2006-05-03T11:43:00.000Z

hell.o.

well, before the world goes nuts over this new pop princess, lets get a few things down on record :

- lily has a fucking huge amount of friends on myspace. thus proving me wrong that that place doesn't work, yet again. more detail : here

- lily is the offspring from funny man keith allen. i watched his documentary on that king of bling bloke recently. hmm. oh, and what with his involvement with fat les, i can understand why people are not keen to find out his daughter is going to storm the charts this summer. i put it to you, they are fun haters.

- lily is a strange nu-breed of pop star, combining a little of annies electro cool, a chunk of mia/diplo beats, and a slice of lady sovs sassiness all wraped in dose of cuteness. top of the pop beckons.

- lily's album has been given some touch up by friends to the stars, mark ronson. in my book, this is a good thing. the man knows how to craft a fine dance-pop tune as well as give it the cut-n-paste action, so lets get it going.

- lily has been given space in vogue, spun the decks at yoyo, and interviewed by a nutty blogger : here

- so far only one record is available - an ultra limited 7" on emi's regal imprin that is now available via ebay for a chunk-o-cash, though i suspect that the track, 'ldn' will indeed get a proper release sharpish as soon as this first phase of interest wanes.

- lily has sorted out a mixtape, of course. tis hidden away online, but i have uploaded it for all to hear. well the first 10 of you. combining her own pop with classics by such folks as squeeze, dizzee, small faces, beats international, wu-tang its a veritable feast for the ears. all in a cd-r friendly 192KBps format. excellent. catch her first mixtape : here

there is a strong chance that by the end of the month i will be totally fed up with lily allen, but until then ..

mark e

ireallylovemusic

: $tateside - news and grooves : the black dog - new ep details :

2006-05-02T16:38:00.000Z

folks.

hope you enjoyed the bank holiday.

i would like to think that i used the time wisely - i updated the $tateside section with reviews for the chunk-o-funk that is the harlem river driver reissue that comes out may 22nd,along with a couple of worthy compilations. so, check the details online : here

oh, and in case you weren't aware, $tateside now have a proper website : here

tis a mighty good thing to see, especially as there is a fascinating rundown on the history of this fine label, as well as lots of lovely artwork to marvel at.

also, to keep things up-to-date and relevant, i also posted reviews for the new fink album, the new get lost mix on crosstown rebels label, and even a duran duran related compilation, in which 2 of the shoulder padded funkers choose their faves of the post punk era.

in other news : the black dog are to release a 3 track ep on soma records called 'riphead ep', and the love is mighty for those of us that have rediscovered the love for classic ambient-techno moods as the textures as as deep and fat as ever.

a proper review will appear of course, but just a heads up for this excellent record.

here's the track listing : ripheadv2, gawble vianag, mental ward sleep machine.

time to move on up.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

that was the week that was

2006-04-28T09:26:00.000Z

so, from your side it has probably looked as if ireallylovemusic has given up the ghost this last few days.

pah.

did you not see my involvement with playlouder this week : here

did you not read the new exclusive freelance hellraiser interview posted : here

and did you not realise that roger (the band) have managed to sucker punch some unknowing record label into releasing their second funk-rock opus, 'backing off is for the other band', so that other folks can pick up on the hardest rockin' fonk this side of the moon.

oh, and i posted a couple of reviews including : sol seppy and wolfmother : here

variety is indeed the spice of life.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

men and their machines

2006-04-25T15:57:00.000Z

hell.o

all sorts of weird grooves have been dug into in the last few days including juno reactor, richard h. kirk, and minimal house mixes by m.a.n.d.y.

but, here's a quick rundown of the stuff i should be telling you about.

to start things off here's a quick rundown on a bunch of ninjatune newbies : fink, ammoncontact, and daedulus.

fink drops the beats, and discovers his love for acoustic guitars with some deft dubbed up touches for his new album, biscuits for breakfast. its a lovely album, that could easily attract accusations of genre bandwagon jumping as the singer songwriter malarkey is rather hot at the moment, but fink manages to make such concerns a non-starter by his sheer quality.

ammoncontact get more muscular than their previous releases, which kind of passed me by. this time around, they have added a chunk of guest vocalists and producers (cut chemist!) to help flesh out their nu-funk vision, and come off with a new album, called vocals strangely enough, that is far far better than i would have ever have expected.

finally, daedulus releases a new album called denies the days demise. which to be honest i have yet to get into as its rather obtuse, dry and hard going, though initial plays reveals a few standouts that i need to investigate further.

on warp : nightmares on wax : in a space outta sound - awful punned up title, but this perfect seasonal album, now that the recent cold weather has drifted into our short term memories. george continues combining the usual melee of dubbed up, scratchy hip hop grooves, soulful melodies and various well sourced samples with consummate ease. of course, it's not going to bust open the doors of originality, but this album will make people feel good when the sun shines. me included.

in other news : posted reviews for the fashion conscious hard rockers wolfmother, out now on modular, and the gorgeous debut album from sol seppy which is out now on gronland

ta ra for now

mark e

ireallylovemusic

"something for the weekend sir ?"

2006-04-21T16:10:00.000Z

hell.o

heres some funky fun for the weekend.

1. after years and years, the freelance hellraiser has at last got the album off the blocks. gone are all the aspirations of being all freaky and underground, and instead he has decided to become this years fat boy slim vs moby. thing is , as easy as a target this sounds, for the next few weeks the album will make me smile. but hey - go dig around the flashy website and listen for yourself : here

2. nightmares on wax have a new album out on warp records. and the phrase 'same as it ever was' rings true. a little dub, a little soul, and a lot of love and dope. again, easy to hate, but the music is far to perfect for a lazy sunny day, so i aint becoming a hater. go dig around the site for more bass induced pleasure : here

3. king biscuit time - steve mason drops the beta band off the planet, and goes off to become a solo artist that just so happens to sound like the beta band, but with more pop, more melody, more weirdness and a lot of decent sounds, new album, 'black gold' is out soon. more : here

oh, and virgin megabores are having a huge clearance of old stock that no-one is interested in. dig carefully and you could find some excellent arena rock recordings cds. in my local shop there is the great calla album, 'televise', carlsonics, and the weird the swords project.

go discover people.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

watch : boards of canada

2006-04-19T14:28:00.000Z

despite not being overly taken in with the bands last album (it would probably make more sense now that i am suffering head aches - going to have to dig it out of the archive), they have new stuff out at the end of may, in the form of an 6 track ep, 'trans canada highway'. incorporating new music, a remix by the anticons odd nosdam.

to get the blood rushing, there is also a video you can download.

watch it : here

in other news : posted reviews and track listings for the new miss kittin mix, and the forthcoming trojan sound system mix, both of which are very different from one another.

usual place people.

till next time.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

out of the shadows ..

2006-04-18T10:22:00.000Z

well this feels weird, a keyboard and a chunk o'noise on the earpplugs, as last week was all about the kids and mickey mouse and a lot of rock-n-roller coasters.

very little to report other than my body hurt, and due to a fortuitous meeting at the airport, i had to check up on stunners international upon my return to 'normality'.

but that's another story.

naturally, when i arrived back @ ireallylovemusic hq i had to force the door open due to all the hopefuls that had landed on the doormat in my absence, and to be totally honest, there was very little that really made my day worthy, other than a new album by being 747 on the always impressive wrath records label.

now, while i was wandering around disney corp paris streets i couldn't get the sigue sigue sputnik track, 'mickey mouse is going to hell' out of my head. this unnatural urge then lead me to find out that the band are back. again! with a new singer. sort of - it's neal x the guitarist, which as there was a lot of blood shed between the various camps involved is totally understandable. the good news is that the music is still exactly the same. lots of rock-n-roll riffs, lots of cheap drums and a chunk of movie samples.

the first real example of the new stuff, 'into the unknown', is now available online : here

to get things back on track, last night i posted a few words on some various singles that could be of interest : here

to finish this off, here's a quick rundown of stuff in the pile :

- fink - biscuits for breakfast - ninjatune trip hop guru discovers acoustic guitars and drops all samples and loops to forge a new career as a creddible singer-songwriter. actually, casting all sceptism aside the songs and execution are in fact rather sublime, and perfect for those days when the headaches loom large.

- adem - love and other planets - the other half of fridge goes in different direction to four tets. not a single laptop broken beat, as adem is all about the inner calm, to make a grown up beautiful album actually.

- temposhark - joy - the electro boys ramp up on the sex factor following their recent depeche mode moodiness and give it their all in this new electro-glam monster. out in a few weeks, but as ever, these things are limited, so heed the warning.

- wolfmother - the album is out soon, and new single, dimension, out now. timewarp 70's rock-n-roll for the cool indie crowd it may be. but fcuk, when the noise is as large and fun as this, who cares! a lot more detail : here, access to a 4 track album preview : here, and even some live stuff : here. i think that's enough, for now.

more later.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

today the world changed - a little.

2006-04-06T15:29:00.000Z

hell.o

today became a little more interesting.

firstly, after years of me harping on about age of chance i actually managed to track down 2 mint copies of the debut 12" ep, the twilight world of sonic disco.

one yellow vinyl, one red vinyl. both with perfect inserts (a rarity indeed!)

i have had the ep tracks on cd-r for quite a while, but as i only came to the age of chance groove with their beneath the pavements ep i had never got around to sourcing the older stuff.

and wow are those tracks fantastic. a reissue campaign must happen at some point, as the bands upfront, in-yer-face indie noise with chants and beats sounds as fresh in 2006 as it did back them.

of course i am somewhat biassed, so i'l stop frothing now.

but, this was not all. today, the 6th of april 2006, became the day that the powers that run and control ilm, a well known music based message board, decided to stop the use of the yousendit.com utility for the spreading of music, old, new, or unreleased.

while i never really got into that whole p2p world, i have to admit the odd mp3 via ysi became a rather pleasant treat, and subsequently opened my ears to a lot of new music that i would eventually track down, or, knowing it was not for me, avoid. however, the abuse had become extreme, and so i understand the boards approach, but it does make you wonder, if a small hidden away corner of the web is beginning to feel the pressure of possible legal action, who will be next ?

so, with that in mind, here's an exclusive mp3. miss kubeliks remix of 'help me somebody', originally made by brian eno and david byrnes. the musical components have been released online to allow folks remix/alter as they feel.

so, please set your downloads to stun, for a rather more laid back version of the original, retitled, 'help me symphony' : here

in other news : posted a review for the superb ambi-techno album by grinning ape, 'the greatest ape'. out now on svc records.

that's all for now folks.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

somewhere far far away from the mad crowd

2006-04-04T20:41:00.000Z

folks.

posted a review for a new split ep by 2 bands that i suspect have yet to have much love thrown their way (deepest darkest essex i believe).

the ep is simply called 'beatglider v shinri' and features 2 tracks by each band involved.

i have to say, that on a day that the fsuk (freestylers/cut la roc : big beat revival !) mixtapes have been enjoyed far too much, that these homages to all that involves guitars, harmonies and creation records, have been like a breath of fresh (but strangely familiar) air.

full review : here

in other news : ladyfuzz have their debut, kerfuffle, out now. coming on strong as a tv friendly dayglo lurid technicolour artful punk pop version of bloc party (with whom there are plenty of connections, both socially, and sonically), the album has several future indie dance classics, so pop over to the bands myspace hangout and hear for yourself why this band are making people like me smile so much.

thank. you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

svc presents ..

2006-03-31T15:44:00.000Z

.. grinning ape.

following the fine album by feedle, comes a new internet only release, the greatest ape, by the grinning ape. described as a continuation of the detroit sounds of warp old schoolers, b12, fuse and even polygon window.

a.p.e : mp3

richmond avenal : mp3

very bleepy focused ambience and rather special, not surprising that the ape involved declared that this album (10 years in the making !), would become the greatest album ever made.

make your own minds up, it could be a close call.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

mp3 : bush of ghosts : miss kubelik remix

2006-03-30T13:21:00.000Z

hell.o

david byrnes and brian enos classic, bush of ghosts has been recently reissued with more tracks, lovely remastering and alll manner of online munchies.

subsequently, various components of the original music have been placed online at the official site for people to fcuk around with.

so please get your downloads ready, for a lovely relaxing groove by the mysterious miss kubelik remix of 'help me somebody', renamed 'help me symphony'. available : here (ysi - 256kbps - 9mb)

enjoy

mark e

ireallylovemusic

listen to the new morrissey album - online

2006-03-30T07:22:00.000Z

folks.

want to hear the new morrissey album, ringleader of the tormentors ?

of course you bloody do.

well, such is the way of these things, i have managed to get all nicely hooked up.

so click the link, fill in some details and rejoice in the listening party : here

and, just to prove that i love a chunk of nu-era commercialism from time to time, there is also a fine-n-funky morrissey sanctioned download shop courtesy of 7digital.

what would the old boy thought of all this back in his dandelion brandishing days i wonder !

such a different world.

get your paypal account out and enjoy the glories of the modern world : here

more fun stuff later.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

girls just wanna have fun

2006-03-28T15:41:00.000Z

hello again.

following on from yesterdays splurge, here a list of albums by girls that are interesting and worthy of checking.

the like - are you thinking what i'm thinking

3 waif like young'uns raid the bible of 90's indie rock (the 4ad back catalogue), and forge a solid debut album. with production by wendy m (devoid of her prince sanctioned sidekick lisa for this release, unfortunately), the albums first half rocks along nicely. subtle shoegazing layers, nice bouncy basslines, and some sultry vocals make this album very easy on the ear. of course, several of the songs will become standard soundtrack choices for such teen dramas as the oc. and of course, there is the fact that all 3 of these rock chicks are offspring from various areas of the music industry, but that nagging whisper, along with the fact that there are several songs that are a little too middle of the road sounding, is soon kicked into touch when songs as strong as 'what i say and what i mean', 'under the paving stones', and the wonderfully innocently deceptive acoustics of 'you bring me down' get under your skin. as the website declares : i like the like.

link

c-mone - the butterfly effect

in case you missed the word on this debut release, c-mone was featured on the streets last album, and comes from nottingham. her debut album is straight up, no nonsense hiphop. no garage, no soul, r-n-b crossover, no grime, just solid beats and uk wordplay. c-mone has a definite power and control with her flow, and the production crews match her style in fine form. out on the excellent son records now. good stuff.

candi staton - his hands

you know those old dj shadow and soulsaver mixes in recent years such as brainfreeze, which dig out long forgotten soul classics and revive the love for proper old fashioned sounding music, well that case of 'they just dont make soul music like this any more' can no longer be applied. as this new album by soul legend, candi staton, is exactly as it should be, sympathetically beautiful production recalls those 60's classics perfectly (though of course in stereo as opposed to the mono scratched up discs of old), horns are treated with love and tenderness as opposed to being all digitally enhanced, strings (heart and musical) are pulled, and the central focus on the piano suits. for the mood throughout these 11 songs is downtrodden but not broken, down beat, depth of the night southern soul music, with new songs written by such names as merle haggard and will oldham.

a perfect perfect album for people who cant get enough of those $tateside reissues. out on honest jons records at the end of march.

sol seppy - the bells of 12

strange but utterly beautiful looking cover (b&w moody shot of sol aka sophie), ambient at the start, before sol starts dropping into joy zippers world, fuzzed up guitars and sunkissed studio enhanced harmonies all topped off with a distinct edge of heart stopping beauty. one listen reaction : very interesting. full review to appear later. available on the ever impressive gronland label.

that's all for now folks .

mark e

ireallylovemusic

lots of stuff to waste money on - perhaps

2006-03-27T09:31:00.000Z

hell.o

ok, enough is enough, here's a quick rundown on the current pile, bear in mind i've had a crap weekend - so these opinions may indeed be different when the sun shines:

ben harper - both sides of the gun

never having had a real urge to hear any of this guys stuff, when the offer came in i was originally heistant, but in the details provided it became apparant that the doube cd is made up of the mans 2 styles. one cd rocks out, the other cd doesn't. initial listens seems to bear this fact true. still aint sure if it's my kind of thing. honest, earnest classic sounding rock, with lots of heartfelt emotion. while ben is obviously a hugely admired talent and has been doing this for years, i just wonder if in this post-blunt world if people are getting fed up with ''bloke with guitar complaining' type of stuff. oh, hang on, may be that's just me.

archie bronson outfit - derdang derdang

well i never. appearing out of nowehere, this one is a cracker. dirty, grotty swamp filled blues rock that really hits home. the phrase, 'shake ye hips' is proclaimed on the drum, and fuck me, if you dont start feeling the primal groove within the opening riffs of 'cherry lips' then you may as well check in with the undertakers. awesome stuff. proper review to appear when i can be arsed, but if there were one guitar based album in recent times that you should check out - this is easily it.

spank rock - yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyo

no idea if thats enough yo's in the title, but hey. this is the new blossoming sound from baltimore. electro booty bass madness, on top of which saucy wordplay lets rip. i must be old, but the constant declarations of pumpin' pussy/ass/tits/ho's etc gets tiresome, which is a real shame as the production is at times inspired. recent single 'rick rubin' stands out from the hormonally charged partners.

morrissey - ringleader of the tormentors

if you have have read any press on this album you will know that this is the album that most people make when in their 20's, ie this is morrisseys sex album. he is in love. and shock, horror. it could be with a different man other than himself. this pleases me immensely, i am so glad that the worlds most misunderstood misery has come to the conclusion that love is not always a passage of hardship and can at times be rather fun. the other factor with the album is the use of tony visconti as producer, and ennio morricone for string arrangements. this has brought in a new found love for epic orchestrations, kid choirs and glam guitars. full review once i have had chance to get into the album a little more, but initial listens reveal that there are couple of classics as well as a few filler tracks, but the album revolves around the amazing finale, in which morrissey declares loud and proud, 'at last i am born'.

welcome to your new world, morrissey. i hope you enjoy your stay.

yeah yeah yeahs - show your bones

first up - never fell for any of the hype around the first ep/album. something about the haircut-centric karen o scared the living daylights out of me, and their minimal drum+guitar sound really made my skin crawl. all that manufactured cool and devotional excess. so why oh why do i actually find myself enjoying the difficult second album? maybe the involvement of studio craftsman alan moulder has something to do with it, maybe it's the fact that the band have decided to drop all the scenster crap and just write some cracking tunes. of course, this means that fans of the last album will probably hate this as its being hailed as a proper grown up rock album, and in some ways i guess it is. proper song structures, fleshed out instrumentation make the album like some bastard mutation of indie noise, post punk and proper pop music. good stuff.

more tomorrow

mark e

ireallylovemusic

gorillaz - danger mouse/jemini - ghostface/doom - live dvd and mp3's

2006-03-24T09:22:00.000Z

hell.o

i have to be honest, it's rather special to see and hear a set of musicians give damons dark pop masterpiece, demon days, a proper going over in an grand old theatre in the north of england.

i have reviewed the soon to be released dvd of the show in the usual place, but i suspect you'd rather watch a preview : here

in other news, lex records are coming out of hibernation, so they have released 2 online 'work in progress' tracks from stuff to be released later in 2006.

1. danger mouse and jemini - fast on the heels of his gorillaz fun, comes this reunion of the world class producer and his hip hop sidekick, jemini.

'knuckle sandwich' is available : here

2. ghostface and doom : this long rumoured union of these 2 underground hip hop stars at last seems to be becoming a reality. 'angeles' : here

thats enough action for now, surely ?

mark e

ireallylovemusic

akira the goth - new mp3

2006-03-22T13:39:00.000Z

been a while since i mentioned the blond avenger, akira the don, but it seems the bugger has gone goth ! which, for someone that survived leeds in the 80's, is a strange direction for the nu-world wordsmith, but i have to say the pounding electro, and necessary military drum beat makes this throwback to my uncomfortable teens rather fun, of course his vocals dont have the same pompous theatricals of the original dark lord, but hey, it's freeeeee.

so without further ado can i point you in the direction of his cover version of sisters of mercy's lucretia my reflection : here

next up : skinnyman vs all about eve. maybe.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

raiding the 20th century - revisited.

2006-03-20T09:12:00.000Z

a story :

2 years ago, strictly kev (aka dj food part of the ninja tune empire) broadcast a 45 minute mix that gave a rundown on the world of cut-n-paste, and it's more mutant bastard offspring, mash-ups. the mix, naturally found its way onto the wire and eventually to my ears. 'twas a glorious experiment, and proved that the art of cut-up was indeed worthy of such a document.

however, there was one glaring (for me anyways !) omission, kisspower by my beloved age of chance. subsequently, i tracked down kev, and explained that there was indeed one uk track from 1986 missing from the mess of noise he has released. to which kev advised that the 45 minute mix was a precursor to the full deal that he was in the process of making. this was too good an opportunity to miss. i sent kev a cd-r of the kisspower track and followed this up with a few easy q's for the ireallylovemusic site.

a year later, i received confirmation from kev that the monster, now known as 'raiding the 20th century', was ready to release to the world, such was the recognition of this aural document even paul morley had agreed to appear as a master of ceremonies throughout the hour long document, reading passages from his own 'words & music'.

word had spread since the original version, and the anticipation was rather frenzied amongst certain areas of the net. once the mix was online (no real world copies were ever pressed - this was a free internet only mix), demand hammered the ninja tune webserver into submission taking various chunks of ninjatune offline while chaos ensued.

ireallylovemusic once again assisted by hosting details of the mix and original artwork, as hidden away in the final tracklisting was a certain kisspower track. fame at last!

the internet community was brought into the funk as direct requests were put out to spread the mix far and wide for fear of a kickback from various big brother institutes (the memories of danger mouse vs emi were still fresh).

a few weeks later, the party had fizzled out, everyone who wanted the manipulated noise, had it, and all seemed to go back to normal.

that is, until this weekend.

ireallylovemusic has been requested by kev to drop the artwork associated with the mix, links to dj food's website and any references as to where the mix may be available. apparently, as a result of the interview he did with ireallylovemusic, he has received a strongly worded letter from emi.

over a year after the event things have come back to kick us into touch, to quote kev :"This has served it's purpose and it's amazing I got away with it for so long but I have to make it unavailable as of NOW otherwise I am getting to get the danger mouse treatment over it"

i have to be honest, the fact that a largely imageless, low profile website like ireallylovemusic has been noticed, gives me a tingle of excitement, but there is no way i would want to get kev into trouble, so of course i did as requested.

i do think, however, that maybe the horse has bolted and the actions by emi will result in little, the mix should be celebrated as a work of art, a statement of the modern world of music, and in a just world, be broadcast in complete on bbc3's excellent radio show mixing it. i am sure that if there is anyone who still wants to track the mix down, then it shouldn't be too difficult, just dont ask me for any clues. more details on the mix, the interview and full track listing : here

thank you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

bring on the sunshine

2006-03-17T08:39:00.000Z

will this winter never end.

to bring on the sunshine i have decided to spread the funky old school loops and humour of 2 crews that should bring a smile to your face and make your vibe a little more loose.

first there is the excellent dj format.

as you should know, he has released 2 albums proper, one mixtape, and a couple of bits and pieces that are available from shows, but you may not have this goodie for your i-slob.

music for the mature b-boy - album sampler - 15 minute mix by psycho pab - 160Kbps mp3 available : here

then yesterday i delved into the world that is ugly duckling. picked up the double cd set of 'taste the secret', and the leftovers ep. lots of lovely two turntables and a microphone styled scratch funk loops, horn riffs, and a story arc re the mystery that is meat shakes. totally recommended when you get tired of all that hi-tech electro studio polish that most hip hop seems to be made of. subsequently, i gotta point you to the website : here

hidden away in the download section is a 50 minute mix by the bands dj, young einstein. more soul-n-funk grooves to fill your boots and get the rays beeming down.

bring it on.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

free music from lenny kravitz

2006-03-16T09:55:00.000Z

i don't normally do this kind of thing, but i have to say that some of these tracks are actually well worth the download.

basically lenny kravitz has got all chummy with some folks who make vodka, and created a rather nice trance-rock track called breathe. you may have heard it.

well to go one step further, they have now enlisted lots of dancefloor friendly people and got the track remixed - lots.

so surf around the very flashy website here and find the relevant download - it's about 58M, with the mp3 files being encoded @ 160KBps.

remixers include : chromeo, ashley beedle, the presets, little louie vega, jazzanova, as well as by others.

the form is mainly of the electro-dance style, and some are really rather cool.

guess i should drink more vodka then ?

mark e

ireallylovemusic

shooting from the hip for once

2006-03-10T22:20:00.000Z

today brought about a change in direction.

out of nowhere i had the urge to delve into the archive and source all my 'arena rock recordings' albums.

back in 2003 arrco got themselves a distribution deal with rykodisc and by some strange twist in fate they became top of my list of 'gotta catch'em all for the next 12 months.

the starting point was when i found out that they were releasing a new album by grand mal ('bad timing'), have i not mentioned them before? surely i have - i like'em a lot dontcha know. anyway, this lead me to doing the google thing (was that live in 2003 as life before google is eradicated from my grey cells) only to find out that they had also been putting out records by my other fave fuzzed up heroes - superdrag.

so with a 100% hitrate i started tracking down other stuff. firstly, there were the weird and twisted, but rather compelling, by the 14th listen anyway, 'the mink lungs'. a band who could play perfectly formed indie pop one minute and the most fucked up psyched freak out the next. hmm .

but this was nothing in comparison to my next acquisition on the journey, the brilliantly named, 'pilot to gunner'. when their debut album, 'games at high speeds' hit the decks i was blown apart by the sheer forcefulness of the music. it rocked. large. but there was something else in the passion, there was an urge and insistency missing in most alt.indie.rock. the album flew by at breakneck pace, and didn't take any prisoners. the thing was a hard fucker to love, like a bad tempered teenager you had to gain the trust, take it out, pamper its needs, and only then did the excellence within reveal itself.

thankfully, by the time the follow-up album came out, 'get saved', i was ready and prepared, as were a lot of the music press. the band were going to take on the mainstream. the coverart was sharp, provocative, and beautifully executed, the band looked and sounded ready for total domination.

so what the fuck went wrong ? well i guess from a uk side - nothing. they never seemed to happen. maybe they never toured enough, maybe they pissed off the wrong journos. i dunno. but what i do know is that 3 years later the album still sends sparks flying when the title track is blasted out.

so, following my rediscovery of the band today i decided to see if they had continued with arena rock, whose distribution deal with ryko seems to have fallen by the wayside a long time ago. that revealed nothing. thankfully, a chance surf/messageboard question revealed that they have recently come out of hiding and are interacting via the ubiquitous myspace. so without further ado i ask you all to nip over there and send the guys some love, read the blog, it sounds like they've had tough times (the usual story i suspect - all that gorgeous packaging/recording costs have been put at the feet of a band well out of their financial depth), but recently things appear to be back in action - gigs, live recordings surfacing on the wire somewhere, etc etc.

let's hope they find some love this time around. they're certainly gonna get it from ireallylovemusic if they make more music as good as the 2 albums that are on my desk right now that's for sure.

pilot to gunner : myspace

record label : arena rock recording co

g'night.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

grand mal : an update

2006-03-08T18:35:00.000Z

hello.

i am rather glad to find out that the latest album by grand mal has at last found a proper outlet.

details : here

as we all know, the internet makes the distance a non-issue. so i urge you all to contact label and pay/hassle for a copy. the album is a perfect 40 minutes of old fashioned rock-n-roll, no more no less.

if you want to know more, then there is, of course, an interview with bill whitten (he is basically grand mal) online in the usual place : here

g'day to you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

Morrissey - You Have Killed Me - Video

2006-03-08T10:08:00.000Z

people.

as you may know, Morrissey is to release a new album soon. so to get in the mood, here's the video for the single, 'you have killed me'

its a fairly straightorward performance video, but hey. its Morrissey, and i reckon he looks and sounds great these days, after all, have you seen the live dvd 'who put the m in manchester' ? it's fantastic, and well worth tracking down.

video : here

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

nostalgic trip part 43 : sandals - rite to silence

2006-03-07T15:57:00.000Z

hell.o

going retro today. my head demanded something familiar and welcome, something mellow, with dashings of spaced out dub, and woofer threatening skunk funk grooves by a rock band that like to stretch out a little.

so off i went to the archive and retrieved this 1994 lost classic by sandals, 'rites to silence'.

yes you may call it proto trip hop. but bloody good proto hip hop it is too.

leftfield and luke gordon assist the drugged up hipsters (i mean just look at that cover .. how fucking nonchalant can a band look !) to create a genuinely gorgeous laid back listen, aparently there is a lost album hidden in the record label vaults .. but too much red tape makes it impractical to get it onto the release schedule. arse.

if you see this in the bins for a couple of quid, then just give it a go instead of something a lot less interesting.
the album along with the 'cracked ep' are still within easy reach @ ireallylovemusic hq.
original review :
http://www.ireallylovemusic.co.uk/dance/sandals.html
ta
m.e/ireallylovemusic

return of the tits.

2006-03-07T09:38:00.000Z

folks.

careful watchers will have noticed that i have mentioned this bunch of mascara'd vamps before, but the scary/wonderful/sexy/funny/playful/noisy (delete as applicable) tits of death have recently relaunched their website. and tis my preordained duty that you should be advised of such an event.

of course,, there are still images that will make you gran cry, and your man put away the viagra for a few weeks, but the real deal is in their funky music player.

having hammered the demos over the last few months its great to actually have some new music available. in the hi-techno stream machine are 6 songs, a couple of superb newbies, 'succubus' and 'transitional man', alongside the classic demos (as well a new version of 'this is a bust') giving you almost too much fun to handle all in one go perhaps.

the new recoirdings show that the band are really beginning to find their sound methinks. here's a quick tagline : "2006 sanctioned grotty electro rock with hooks aplenty". several of the songs will make goths of a certain age grin like rotting cheshire cats, but hey, we dont have to be shiny happy people in 2006 do we?

i love'em me, i reckon this lot could become a very interesting gang to watch.

and look - not one breast related pun. how fucking good am i ?

website : here

mark e

ireallylovemusic

feedle - exclusive download

2006-03-01T16:22:00.000Z

hell.o

want to hear more lovely freaky noises with laptops, guitars and pianos ?

then head on over to svc records and stump up the extras for the new feedle album, 'leave now for adventure'. played at the required volume, this will caress and damage stereos, but in case you need some incentive, here's a little treat that never made it onto the album.

feedle : wooden hill : here

svc records : here

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

mixtapes : the groove continues ..

2006-02-28T16:28:00.000Z

hell.o

now that the sun is beginning to to shine, sort of, my desire to hear funky loops and too many samples has been pricked.

subsequently, a delve through a recent issue of hip hop connection raised my awareness of a mix going under the banner of sparoworlds.

amazingly, my local megabores had a copy !

folks - if you like dj yoda, if you like sci-fi samples, if you like old school dj skills, if you like hip hop classics, if you like mash up chaos, then i strongly urge you check the 's' section of your local emporium for this limited release, tis an hour of cut-n-paste, and proper dj action.

more details : here - official site

or even : here - myspace

oh, and i believe that the dude has signed up to the ireallylovemusic message board so drop in over there and ask him a few q's !

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

mixtape action

2006-02-24T16:38:00.000Z

hell.o

well after not feeling any love for the mashup/bootleg kinda mix for a while, today my head is back into the groove, all because i found a real copy of the much discussed mia vs diplo mixtape 'piracy funds terrorism', (or 'piracy funs terrorism' as its listed on the cd). and to be honest, the interaction between the various mashes and vocals by mia are actually a lot more fun and interesting than the album proper, arular, to these ears. so without further ado here's a list of other mixes that are on the playlist today.

1. mia vs diplo : piracy funds terrorism. suspect that this has been reissued as it was easy to find today but, amazingly the mix is available online : here

2. my!gay!husband and paul devro : mixtapes are for losers, on slum records

3. bigsexyland dj crew : bigxmasland mix. available online : here

also, i posted a chunk of stuff about all sorts of normal singles that are out in march.

usual place.

ta ra.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

lego+ministry+sway+franz ferdinand+gorillaz

2006-02-23T16:28:00.000Z

hell.o

just a quick note with some fun to waste the bandwidth over.

1. reviewed new sway album : here

2. watch lego people rip it up to scary ministry soundtrack : here

3. franz ferdinand vs gorillaz, ''do you dare', mashup by the excellent idc crew : here

game over.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

beware the rock from below

2006-02-21T14:51:00.000Z

folks.

there is somethiing stirring in the gut, following the fallout from the recent garage rock revival, and the passion for angular jerky new wave in the last 2 years, word reaches me that rock music is being put back on the hipsters menu.

firstly, there is the wolfmother single, minds eye, as released on modular recordings, which i love cos of the rick wakeman keyboard solo. then today i am advised that this lot (also from australia though based uk-side until they get on top of the pops), the scare, are going to get peoples hair growing.

make your own mind up : here (the bands fancy site), or here (their myspace lodgings), tis pretty damn good stuff.

now, back to prince ..

mark e

ireallylovemusic

oh damn ..

2006-02-20T11:32:00.000Z

this is tooooo damn good :

http://www.3121.com/

post brits freebie mp3

2006-02-17T15:41:00.000Z

folks.

following the wonderful return of prince and the revolution as shown on the somewhat hard going brits awards ceremony, i have decided to share a rather fine remix of a paul weller track! makes sense ? nah. who cares, i am a father of 2, and i like rock music. so let the dadrock revival begin here. well perhaps not.

the original track is from his cover versions album, studio 150, which i have yet to hear. however, hmv were rather keen to hand out a 1 track promo around the same time which featured a rather good beta band remix of the wishing on a star track. so lets dust it down, and see if it still sounds as good now that he's part of the establishment.

paul weller : wishing on a star : beta band remix : here

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

liccy'allsorts : ingo star cruiser, slum records, the presets, yeah yeah yeahs

2006-02-10T16:14:00.000Z

all manner of details and news i guess i should pass on.

- ingo star cruiser - a few years ago, pete ingo released his debut, 'ps i cuddle a box', on the small unknown moshi moshi (whatever became of them - ahem !) label. i happened to come across this lovely little album, and subsequently fell for its sweet charms and deceptive kookiness. now it turns out that the album is to be re-released/remastered/more tracks etc, on a new label called 'izumi'.

more details : here

- canada isn't all nice and fun indie pop like arcade fire and broken social scene you know. in fact this week i received a rather nice big fat parcel from slum records. the obtuse cover art and details gave little in way of clue to the sound i was about to experience. the labels first release, is a mixtape which opens with an elo classic, 'evil woman', and is called 'mixtapes are for losers' already gives reason to love them, the fact that the mix is compiled by people called 'my! gay! dad!' is just the icing on a rather fun cake. then when i tried the cd single by 'duchess says', the bombardment of sigue sigue sputnik styled electro-synth riffs and angry woman lyrics just sealed our fate. totally excellent, dirty, noisey machine made music, but with added layers of guitars and feedback kept just within the limits of enjoyment. glorious stuff.

more details : here

- so, you want a freebie ? modular people (funky folks from australia who are looking after cut copy, wolfmother), have a new band and they want you to hear them. go the download section of the labels website

more details : here

- yeah yeah yeahs are on the promo trail due to a new album thats on its way, so, they have sorted out some of those grisly avatar icons that people love, well not the band personally i suspect, but hey we're not nitpicking. i hate avatars. but i'm an old grump, so ignore me and grab'em for your online experience.

more details : here

now follows a few days silence while i go outside and play in the mud.

ta ra

mark e

ireallylovemusic

justin warfield : the return journey from planet 9

2006-02-08T20:53:00.000Z

so there i am feeling chuffed to have cleared out a few of the current pile when today brings even more stuff.

most of it was not giving me any thrills and my heart sank. then all of a sudden everything changed. 3 singles from the memphis industries label have reenergised my passion. new stuff by the pipettes, field music and absentee are totally wonderful. the pipettes at last make the single that we all knew, and hoped they would. cheeky humour, massive motown/phil spector styled production and a song that just clicks perfectly for its 2.5 minutes, absentee do their rolling tom waits rock far better than anything they have ever done before and make me smile a lot, whereas field music prove that they have a lot more excellence to come following their initially awkward album of last year (the band have played to their strength with straight forward song structures as opposed to the disjointed styles on the album). hurray.

then when i though the day couldn't get any better. i received word re she wants revenge.

and the reason for my buzz : justin warfield is involved

you see, justin has been one of the characters on the fringe of the mainstream for years that always makes me interested, he dabbles in every style of music i love, yet never seems to get the recognition due his chop and change style.

after all its not easy loving his work. first up his debut, 'my field trip to planet 9', was all prince paul produced psychedelic hip hop and made a lot people rather excited to hear more, so naturally he followed up with his southern rock band 'the justin warfield supernaut' (not a great album to be honest), before dropping the ultimate dark-n-broody one inch punch album, 'tao of theone inch punch', which managed to combine my bloody valentine/underground guitar noise with the deepest and most raw hip hop beats. as well as his guest appearances on tracks by placebo, lhb, cornershop and of course the drop dead classic bugpowder dust by bomb the bass.

after which all went quiet for a while. sort of. he was experimenting with a band called 'tape'. slow drawn out drone rock music that, well, it rocked hard, but never got past the demo-available-via-website kinda groove (a shame as there were some great tracks).

perhaps then this media unfriendly, genre hopscotch means that i am probably the only person to be pleased to see/hear of his return as a homage to all thing bauhaus and goth pop under the guise of 'she wants revenge'

within moments of the tipoff, i am immediately on the case, when i tap into the bands myspace area i find out that they have amassed over 24,000 friends.

and i knew nothing. how is it i had not heard.

damn.

expect to hear/read more on this ongoing trip.

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

so, to summarise ..

2006-02-07T18:01:00.000Z

hello.

normally i feel in control of ireallylovemusic. however, recently the postman has been filling my letterbox to the point of extreme chaos.

so today i have listened to and written up quite a few singles that are shopward bound : cherubs, clap your hands, orson, hardkandy, the boy least likely to, lenny kravitz, little man tate, the modern etc etc

some good record amongst them i must say.

as for albums in the pile, here's a list of records that i happen to reckon are rather good :

battles - ep c/b ep - weird jazz-rock-groove stuff on warp. beautiful packaging. not for the easily scared.

prefuse 73 - surrounded by silence - another day, another p73 release! more of the same fucked up laptop maniupulation. lots of lifted speeches from film/radio, but a lot of beauty amongst the random playful noise. out now on warp

laura veirs - year of meteors - great singer songwriter music with plenty of subtle production touches lift this out of mor hell. beautiful.

feedle - leave now for adventure - new release on the budding svc records. if you like prefuse 73, four tet and pedro. then you will love this. seriously.

hardkandy - last to leave - mellow grooves that would chill out the most hardened of funk loving souls, with added dubby bass lines and cinematic production. a headphone classic.

mogwai - mr. beast - not heard anything prior to this so can't compare which will annoy those who believe mogwai to be something rather special. i will admit that at first i was not impressed, but then as my mood changed i began to fall under the spell. painfully beautiful matched against walls of noise.

some of these will be reviewed properly, but in the meantime consider yourself informed !

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

reviews.

2006-02-03T15:13:00.000Z

hey hey.

2 new reviews posted, both so very different.

lori carson and richard h. kirk. lori is all sweet and serene, richard isn't. lori is all proper instruments and nice sounding. richard uses machines and creates dark imposing atmospheres.

i love em both when in the appropiate mood.

all which wraps up the short-n-sweet posting.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

gay monkeys and badges

2006-02-01T13:23:00.000Z

hell.o

i get all manner of stuff in my inbox. some of it wanted. some of it no so. but, when i recently received some spam about an artist called melnyk into an unpublished email account, i was somewhat miffed. naturally, i responded. in return the swedish based label, named gaymonkeys records of course, have sent me a copy of their new album by the artist, 'silence'.

24 hours after having played the album solidly, i can reveal that 'silence' by melnyk is gorgeous electro-pop of the highest order with sonic references to pet shop boys, human league, depeche mode etc. a full review will appear in the appropriate place in a few days.

oh, and just so you know, melnyk is to appear at madame jojo's sometime this week, along with black strobe, if that kinda place is on your rounds.

so there you go : spam can work.

so now it's my turn. want some funky badges? hassle this bloke : cultural treachery

he's an earl brutus fan, and for that alone he deserves your money.

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

its part-eeee time

2006-01-30T11:26:00.000Z

next time you are in the mood for a party and you look at your archive thinking 'i need something a little more fun than pop party 2', you'll wish you had downloaded this mix from those fine folks over at bigsexyland.

tracklist :

1 - intro
2 - the breeders vs afrika bambataa - cannonball / get up and dance
3 - black leotard front - casual friday
4 - new young pony club - ice cream
5 - tom tom club - wordy rappinghood
6 - joey beltram vs rockers' revenge - energy flash / walking on sunshine
7 - gang of four - to hell with poverty
8 - rolling stones - undercover of the night
9 - missy eliot - lose control (jacques lu conte mix)
10 - soulwax vs souwax - teachers / ny excuse
11 - tom vek - nothing but green lights (phones mix)
12 - killing joke vs kaos - change / boogie boy
13 - soul sonic force vs gary newman - planet rock / cars
14 - brakes - all night disco party
15 - prince vs yes - when doves cry / owner of a lonely heart
16 - grandmaster melle mel vs duran duran - the message / notorious

a mutant blend of rock, pop, dance and a few exclusive bootlegs.

worth the download for the missy elliot remix alone. word is that the folks are hosting it for a limited time only - get clicking now.

in other news : posted review for fashion conscious infadels new album

mark e

ireallylovemusic

an advert !

2006-01-27T15:02:00.000Z

ireallylovemusic sells out !

well not quite.

tis a club that i wish i could go to.

so someone please report back and tell me all the gossip.

thank you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

all in a days work

2006-01-27T11:13:00.000Z

folks.

the life of a music junkie can lead you into areas you never expect.

despite my letterbox being stuffed with hopefuls each day, i still cannot resist the bargain bins that languish hidden away in the grotty corners of your local trade in shop. so without further ado here's the latest additions with a quick rundown in case you too feel tempted to loose a fiver:

so solid crew - 2nd verse - a lot more r-n-b flavoured than their debut, but still you cant beat a bit of street orientated grime that was never going to please the media now can you. not too bad.

man with no name - earth moving the sun - full on early 90's goa-trance. worth it, if you love that big hands in the air rush of pounding synths and hippy lyrics. some excellent stuff, especially, 'seratonin sunrise' with vocals by a john lydon copyist. of course, there is a fair bit of cheese spread across the album and there is little in the way of variety. but dont forget - cheese can be great on toast.

vernon reid - mistaken idenity - ex-living colour boss makes album with prince paul. yes prince paul, with my old fave scott harding (new kingdom, stero mcs, wu-tang) on production. so, lots of low slung hip hop beats, scratched up extras, film samples, plenty of clarinet (!!),and lots of guitar solos. not great, but one for those days when you just want some beats and music. could be a grower actually.

truant - neither work nor leisure - released on paper recordings, which i had a vague memory about. shame, as this is pretty lame. instrumental chillout jazzy house.

more reports on your diggin' reporter as and when .

mark e

ireallylovemusic

new new new and little old

2006-01-26T15:03:00.000Z

couple of cracking singles out in the next few weeks.

the whip, coco electrik, graham coxon and even laura veirs are worthy of airplay.

details posted in the usual place.

of course.

so, while you go and discover the new, i'm off back to my goa trance styled 'man with no name' that i just found in the bins for a nice price, oh yes.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

richard h. kirk - a correction

2006-01-25T08:54:00.000Z

oops. in my excitement i declared that the new ep by mr kirk is to be released under another pseudo.

i was wrong.

this record is by richard h. kirk. pure and simple as that.

in other news, added a few words re some old fashioned singles that will be available to one and all in feburary.

bring it on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

richard h. kirk - news news news

2006-01-24T16:46:00.000Z

having posted my recent declaration of love for all things cabaret voltaire related, i then find out that dust science, the label that released the excellent album by black dog last year, have managed to secure some sounds from richard h. kirks archives, to be released under yet another pseudo for richard, 'fear (no evil)'.

more details : here

excellent timing, or what.

can't wait to hear this.

lots of love

marke

ireallylovemusic

cabaret voltaire : the return journey

2006-01-24T15:45:00.000Z

a new groove permeates my soul currently.

i haven't listened to the Cabs in years .. but recently something clicked, off i trundled to the archive, and immersed myself in the minimal but vital human/machine interaction from the same city that now export those fucking Monkeys. tracks like 'i want you', 'kickback' and the jawdroppingly awesome Sensoria 12", are everything that i loved from the early-mid 80's, and were bizarrely released on a major label with expectations of pop stardom. ha !

what were they thinking.

and those neville brody covers were wonderful, these all have an air of pure discomfort, that even today still sends a shiver ooop me spine.

glorious.

surely its time for a reunion ?

mark e

ireallylovemusic

run dmc : first it was jason nevins ..

2006-01-20T20:50:00.000Z

.. now sodding cute pixar styled animals are having a go : here

rip jam master jay. r.i.p

back in the worldof good stuff .. posted a review for the excellent broken social scene album.

well, not a review as such, as more of a gushing of words.

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

exclusive interview : apollo 440

2006-01-18T22:25:00.000Z

hello.

sometimes it's good to step out of the current promo loop and track down a band/musician that has been part of your own personal history, try to reach the inner sanctum of that part of your love, and then hopefully probe into areas that no-one else is bothered about. when i set up ireallylovemusic there were a few goals that i set myself. amazingly, most of these have flown by unnoticed by anyone else but me. so today i am rather chuffed to announce there is another goal breached.

apollo 440. a very uncool band. a band that have become part of the machine that so many profess to hate. yet i suspect everyone who listens/collects music with a groove will have something hidden away which has been touched up by @440. in fact, i would bet hard cash that there are several tracks that if heard without the knowledge of the creators would impress even the harshest critics.

so explain a little : my interest in the apollo four forty story stems all the way from 1987 when howard gray co-produced one of my all time fave albums. no guesses please, surely you know by now ?

so without further ado, please can i point you to the rather full and frank interview with howards brother, and partner in sonic crime, trevor : here

meanwhile, back on the treadmill, full review posted for the forthcoming album by the fallout trust.

i.thanks.you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

back to basics

2006-01-16T22:07:00.000Z

folks.

i have been far too wordy in recent times. lets cut the crap and get back to basics.

some news : sway is to tour, his single, 'little derek' is out now, (wasn't overly impressed with 'download', but i still reckon the man could break the uk hip hop genre open). the album, 'this is my demo' is out early feb. we shall soon now if the man has it. more detail : here

it has been a few weeks since a new prefuse 73 record hit the intray, so its with mucho smiles i can reveal that there is a new mini-album/cd-ep whatever is about to be released on warp, 'security screenings'. follows on from the album and mini album last year and features more folks like four tet. initial plays reveals this to be a fine fine record, certainly one that easier to love than the other release on warp that's on its way by a post-rock/freeform setup called 'battles'. their double cd-ep, 'ep c/b ep', is somewhat hard going. working on that one.

best of the bunch today has to be a new compialtion that dj morpheus has passsed my way. titled 'i cant live without radio', the set reveals that the 80's music scene was indeed a lot more interesting that culture club, duran duran and leg warmers, that any historical shows re that most cursed of decades would have you believe. of course, for yours truly, i dug beneath the radio/tv playlists and found my own world.

and from the looks of ths tracklisting of this compilation i was not alone :

jeff and jane hudson - los alamos
the residents - kaw-liga (moody boys remix)
virgin prunes - pagan lovesong
medioum medium - hungry, so angry
love and rockets - ball of confusion (7" mix)
heaven 17 - we dont need this fascist groove thang
shriekback - accretions (monstrous dance mix)
that petrol emotion - dance your ass off
head - i can't stop (mental metal mix)
world domination enterprises - i can live without my radio
timezone - world destruction
age of chance - kiss
the thrill kill kult - the devil does drugs
taboo - number 6
400 blows vs 23 skidoo - g.i (joakim edit)
einsturzende neubauten - yu-gung (a sherwood mix)

of course, the presence of age of chance makes this album special for me, but there really are some excellent reasons to track this down. note however, that so far this album has no uk release date. so its over to the wire to track down your own copy of this, and you should. if only to hear the most fantastic shriekback remix ever.

bugger. i meant to keep this posting short.

sorry.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

bravecaptain : a freeeeeee album : details

2006-01-12T08:54:00.000Z

folks.

back in 2004 martin carr released a rather lovely electro infused pop album, 'all watched over by machines of loving grace', under his new guise as 'bravecaptain'.

even now, the twisted dubbed up freakiness of 'metamorphicrocks' still does weird and wonderful things to me. so it's with lots of smiles and pleasure, that i can pass on the news that he is to release a freeeeeee album, 'distractions' on jan 30th with high quality mp3 tracks available via the website.

also, bravecaptain released a single every month last year via his website, and if you hurry hurry and purchase all the tracks (a mere 99pence each!) by the end of the week then you get a copy of a 25 minute mix that martin did for the bbc last year for sweet fa. bonus points.

more details : here

and here's the track as mentioned above : here

message ends.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

morning runner/the fallout trust - unlistenable.

2006-01-11T09:57:00.000Z

folks. while a lot of the music i rate is from the smaller labels, i have no problems at all with major label releases. in fact, in 2005 most of my faves were actually on the big labels. so i count myself rather chuffed to be in receipt of emi product. of all the majors i reckopn emi are worthy of love, whether its the main label or their imprints like parlophone and regal. however, in recent weeks i have noticed something a little more unpleasant. 2 new indie hopefuls have dropped through the letterbox : the fallout trust, and morning runner. both bands are signed to newly created emi imprints ('at large recordings', and 'faith & hope') with lots of attention to detail like the packaging and presentation. of course, these bands are an easy target to lay into as they are designed to appeal to a lazy indie demographic (bit of radiohead, a chunk of keane and a slice of coldplay), but i'm not about that. the problem for me is i cant actually listen to the albums. both albums are so heavily drm'd that they are not recognised as audio cds by anything like a computer. in order to listen via all this new technology you have to install all manner of gubbins, sign an eye straining agreement (it's pages and pages long), and even then the music will not transfer to my sony flash player (not sure re ipods, but all ok with creative machines)and will only be available to be heard via their player and/or windows media player. now, as my listening habits revolve around that lovely sony branded gadget, then basically it renders these albums as worthless. so, are the bands (both new - and supposedly rather keen on getting heard/reviewed), aware of this situation ? i will try to find out. mark e ireallylovemusic

product01-c86-sugarbeat

2006-01-10T18:40:00.000Z

all sorts to tell.

firstly are we all aware that 2006 sees the 20th anniversary for the c86 compilation that spawned the careers of so many, and probably fucked up the rest. of course, my only real connection with the indie bible as supplied via the nme, was the presence of the soon to be very non-c86 like age of chance. i never got the compilation i must say. but if i were honest, there were a few weeks back there, that i played the mighty lemon drops and shop assistant albums far too many times. so i'm sure that one of the regular monthly prints are bound to make the most of this at some point over the next few months.

and so to counteract this backward looking trend i have to tell you all about the best vamp led electro-glitter beast to have hit the earplugs since goldfrapp got on her horse :

product 01

having only heard skinny mp3s so far i can safely say that anyone who needs more of the glitterstomp groove with dashes of dj hell sanctioned dirtiness should definitely watch the bands website for details when 'hot trap moonstomp' mix is going to be made available. it's seriously good.

also, if you remeber utah saints dance-pop crossover appeal in the 90s, then it should come as no surprise to find that the leeds lads have again mutated back into their true love. spinning great records that make people dance. they have set up a club night called sugar beat where all manner of genres are mashed and dashed by the laptops/decks. as is the way, they have 'released' a mix cd for promo uses that is available via certain sources, (or i suspect the club itself), where they really do let rip with their extensive record collection. the mix is great for anyone who likes a bit of ragga hardcore blended with nice and easy reggae, a slab of hip hop, some big beat loops and generally anything that will make people get off their asses and dance.

next time you are in leeds - then i reckon this place could easily be the best night out going, if you go, tell'em i sent you. they are also appearing on stage again as utah saints in manchester as part of a big charity event .

cracking line up - even with mc tunes !

only joking.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

macca the hellraiser - twin freaks

2006-01-09T17:08:00.000Z

on paul mccartneys last tour, the knighted one dragged along well known bastard pop guru, freelance hellraiser, aka roy kerr, to play tracks out to get the party in swing. these pre-gig sessions ended up with freelance hellraiser creating several exclusive mashups that ripped into the paul mccartney back catalogue with a vengeance, strapping on a groove and letting the beast live in an updated 2005 form. the results were so loved by the creator of the original sources, that they decided to release the end result as an album.

however to piss off the world of filesharers, twin freaks is a vinyl only release, an idea which completely baffles me, though i guess this is adds an extra layer of kudos for all the vinyl purists, as it's going to be a bugger to track down as well as not being able to listened to by those without decks. however, a little research has lead me to find out that while there isn't a record label printed cd copy available, the music is online via music stores like itunes and sonys connect for all your flashy toys. it should be noted, this isn't the first time that paul has dipped his toes into the murky world of dance music - remember the team up with youth as the fireman?

i guess it was only a matter of time that he came upon the idea of having mashups of his aural history, thankfully freelance hellraiser has been subtle with his protools cut-n-paste fun, as opposed to just strapping a basic 4/4 beat behind a sample and milking the hardcore fans for all they are worth.

you see, curiosity got the better of me, despite not having any of the original tracks, i decided to track the record down. ok, the whole bootleg thing is somewhat past its sell-by-date but i reckon there are some great tracks. sometimes the record sounds like a distant cousin to primal screams screamdelica whereas in other places the fat boy slim party groove rocks the woofers hard, as freelance combines lovely warm instrumentation of the originals with lazy piano riffs, horn filled breaks and lovely bongo heavily stoned groove ('come me up', and 'maybe i'm amazed'), sometimes it's full on electro pounding floorfiller ('rinse the raindrops') to make the tracks sound both current and yet still maintain an old classic rock-n-roll record feel.

not having any paul m records in the archive i still recogniosed several chunks/loops such is their presence in the psyche. start scouring those vinyl racks, before they all end up in the ebayers hands, so head over to the official site : here and check a lo-fi rip of the track that was lifted for 12" release : really love you mark e ireallylovemusic

and now for something completely different

2006-01-06T21:25:00.000Z

folks.

having spent the last few days in the past, well, my own past, tis time to shed off the shackles of history and look forward. afterall, how many times have i used the phrase 'onwards and upwards'. so, subscribing to my own advise, i woke up this morning and decided to stop being so selfish and listen to new music. yes new music. something different and fresh. and lo, it came to pass that i stumbled upon a new ep by the evenings out on brainlove records. and it's like nothing else i have heard so far in '06. a mesh of ideas burst out across the 4 tracks and propelled my jaded soul into the stratosphere of joy. a glorious mess with no big name producer, no ideas of radioplay, just some young talent giving their all. in other words after spinning its 17.5 minutes of vital chaos a couple of time i became refreshed and ready to face the intray once more. (full review in the usual place)

continuing the groove for new newness, i felt that recently i have had enough of beat propelled sounds, my head needed something a little more human, warm that didn't induce a pounding cranium.

amazingly, my hands fell upon the forthcoming album by the new-to-me broken social scene. first play was experienced on the stereo system proper, with the mess of instrumentation sounding disjointed and not constructed for external enjoyment i wasn't too impressed. however, a second listen on headphones revealed just how wrong i was. not knowing the bands excessive line-up (polyphonic spree with more guitars basically), or their desire for joyful sonic abandon whilst forging classic pop songs, i just didn't get it on the first listen. now that i have tuned into their thing, i reckon this could easily become this years arcade fire for many that get the chance to hear them.

i always find it fascinating to see the different strands of the so-called alternative scene developing off into various tangents, and recently the chasms of difference that exists between the uk and usa scenes has become increasingly polarised.

while the uk is still facing the fallout from the recent post-punk resurgence, and the revised need for happy pop tunesmith sidelined with a cheeky smile, it seems in america they are rediscovering the love for melody, artistic integrity, and all things that were good about the alt.rock scene of the mid '90's, but thankfully without the constant need for self analysis and painful soul purging.

in fact, in 2005/2006, i reckon that the americans are actually sending us guitar based music that far exceeds the quality of the uk current 'best-of-breeds'.

kaiser chiefs vs. clap your hands and say yeah

franz ferdinand vs. broken social scene

arctic monkeys vs.arcade fire

kasabian vs. anyone.

i know which of the above i will still be listening to in 5, nee, 1 years time. us brits seem to be currently subscribing to bands who deal with style over substance, cover art over chord sequences, where as over that stretch of deep water, things seems to have turned a joyful 180 degree since the fucking white stripes or the even more unpleasant, the killers. this new batch of bands seem to be intent on the end result, not the projected sales figures, nor the haircuts, and for once the music is worthy of love and devotion.

in fact, for many of these, i thinks it's clear that the bands have a certain d.i.y aesthetic that is wonderfully refreshing in this age of manufactured pseudo-indie bands who have their world domination manifestos published on their website prior to an album even being released.

don't get me wrong, i am very aware that if you scratch the surface there are some truly excellent bands out there in brit-land, just that the media only seem to focus on a select few, most of whom are more interested in appearing on the johnathan ross show than actually making a record that touches the hearts and minds of their hopeful audience.

oh, fuck it. rant over. in 12 hours time i will delete this post, as i decide that actually i reckon i really do like the dreadful babyshambles.

basically, i am just very glad to hear some damn fine guitar based music having felt out of the loop for quite a while (wasn't keen on the blues-garage revival, and the constant purging of gang of four styled riffs over the last 2 years began to become somewhat tiresome, and as for the britpop comeback, that's just beyond me really), irrespective of where the band comes from.

onwards and upwards.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

sunsonic - the revival

2006-01-05T16:46:00.000Z

hello.

following on from yesterdays realisation that ben 'juno reactor' watkins was involved with the traci lords album, i dug out my complete sunsonic collection and realised that this band were totally ahead of the game with their mix of cinematic pop/techno/dance/ambient texture, however as expected, google revealed little about the group. in fact, there isn't even a mention on allmusic about them ! so, i decided to put things straight for future googlers.

added details re the lot : here

and for those of you who are interested in hearing what i loved wayyy back in 1990 here's a couple of rare on the net examples :

driveaway - 12" 808 state version

kind of loving (sunsonic version)

roll my body

innocent man

man2ray

3 a-side tracks, and 2 b-sides.

unavailable for a long time these are in WMA/192Kbps format.

takes your choice and enjoy

mark e

ireallylovemusic

Traci Lords : 1000 Fires

2006-01-04T18:30:00.000Z

today after a protracted issue with the postal service, i at last received a cd i ordered a few weeks ago : traci lords - 1000 fires - complete with its fire red inlay tray !

i can't recall exactly what made me hit that 'buy now' button, but i'm bloody glad i did. released in 1995 on the radioactive label, this saw the infamous traci move away from her previous career (careful with that google function) and try out that ever difficult new direction - techno pop princess. rather than making a bland, heard-it-all-before album full of saccharine styled ballads, traci roped in several 'well known' techno producers and let it rip in the studio.

firstly, the majority of the album (4 of the 10 tracks) was forged under the masterful direction of ben watkins, aka juno reactor, aka one half of the forgotten but my own personal fave, sunsonic. a man who easily competes with classic era william orbit, ben has the same way with wibbly wobbly synth noises, he straps on massive acid lines, pumped up beats, and generally enjoys throwing all manner of weirdness into the mix (choral samples, twang guitars) making for some excellently tacky but brilliant techno-pop-dance tracks. also involved on several tracks was mike 'jesus jones' edwards. someone who i would have never have believed could actually produce such deeply warm sonics. his contributions, 'distant land' and the more disturbing 'fathers field', both have a distinctly synthetic electro triphop level to them, and the album closer, 'okey dokey' mutates into a 6 minute massive acid overload, making mikes tracks tracks easily sit well alongside bens own ibiza house creations. then finally, there are the 3 babble produced tracks. babble was basically the leftovers from the thompson twins, tom bailey and allanah currie, who steer the excellent 'i want you' into a very deep-n-low growler of a track. another album highlight.

admittedly, the vocals aren't all that noticeable, and the lyrics are rather cringesome at times, but hey, does anyone really care. tis all about the noises that emanates from the machines, the moods the beat. and, with that in mind, in this revised era where we are one again allowed to admit to loving all things electro, i would not be surprised if dj hell has a copy of this album within reach.

and so the knock on effect of this discovery, has been a scurry through the archive to dig out the excellent sunsonic back catalogue. in which ben teamed up with adam peters to make an excellent solitarily album, 'melting down on motor angel', three singles were released in 90/91 with heavily stylised covers, lots of high profile remixes (808 state, paul oakenfold etc) but to little attention. which is a shame, as several years later, underworld took the sunsonic blueprint and took over the world with their own brand of melodic heavy throbbing basslines, cinematic production, off the wall lyrics, matched with some great pop songs. i alone saw a direct connection in the sound of the 2 bands, but twas too late sunsonic were well and truly over as ben had gone onto become juno reactor (and producer of traci's album as i now find out !). but what of adam peters ? internet digging years ago revealed little other than some strange rumours re cults, but that was then, and this is now.

so in the new age of passing the love on, expect an mp3 or 2 over the next few days/weeks.

in these dark days we all need a little more sun in our lives.

message ends

mark e

ireallylovemusic

2006 : let's go

2006-01-03T20:32:00.000Z

hell.o

been a few weeks so thought i'd better fill some of the void.

been very little to report music wise other than to say that in the last 2 weeks of 2005 i came to realise that art bruts album was totally ace in its 'fall vs pulp'-esque insight to the whole rock-n-roll charade, and that goldfrapps 'supernature' album was one of the years finest albums and should have been included in any such rundown.

but as ever, the end of the holiday season brings cheer. for it's time for sales. yes - stock clearance, where you get to pick up all those non-cool albums at knock down prices.

so far, the list includes such so-called atrocities as linkin park (jay-z mashup album, 'collision course'), limp bizkit (remix album + 'results may vary'), kelis ('tasty'), ashlee simpson, chemical brothers ('come with us'), bowie ('club bowie' - which includes some so called danced up versions of his classics - worthy for david guettas pounding revision of 'heroes' alone). a varied bunch admittedly, but thats the whole point !

loving the angst overload of fred and his soggy bizkit and the fullon big tranceified beat of the brothers, not felt kelis yet (ahem), and had little time for polished pop so far(i'm sure ashlee's time will be just around the corner).

i guess i should mention that the 'to be reviewed' pile is a new mogwai single, 'friend of the night'. now, i have never really felt connected with the whole epic post-rock thing before, but the press so far on the bands stuff has me somewhat gagging at the bit. fingers crossed.

and so to the future ! i have no idea what 2006 is going to bring to ireallylovemusic as there is sweet fa in the pipeline, so let's just kick back and enjoy the ride.

crack'on people. crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

2005 : the year pop music took over my playlist.

2005-12-22T09:03:00.000Z

as i have recently revealed my true love for the latest girls aloud and rachel stevens albums in my round up for the year, you may be wondering why i haven't reviewed these pop masterpieces.

well the answer is simple. others have done so in far far better ways than i ever possibly could. so please let me point you to some reviews that has made me relisten to the albums again and enjoy them even more. i never realised there was so much depth to their shiny pop.

the writer, marcello carlin, has been someone i have admired from afar with his various blogs, but his rediscovery of pop seems to have happened with a degree of synchronicity to yours truly making me think i haven't gone completely mad. then again, who knows ?

review : girls aloud - chemistry

review : rachel stevens - come and get it

onwards !

mark e

ireallylovemusic

ireallylovemusic : the new look

2005-12-21T20:01:00.000Z

people.

after months of deliberation and long nights of the soul ($tateside reissues of course), i am proud to reveal the new look.

enjoy.

it's a limited release only.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

i am special - i have a number

2005-12-21T15:37:00.000Z

and that number is : 1697.

basically, today i received the lovingly packaged promo for the forthcoming coldcut album : sound mirrors, (out end of jan'06), with the warning that the cd is watermarked with a unique number so if i upload/copy it then the bods @ ninjatune can whup my ass.

thing is, there is no fucking way i would do such a thing. i aint into all that gubbins, but i feel kinda cool to have a number.

and the album ? it's a total headrush. dropping the cut-n-paste madness that they are best known for, the lads have crafted a gorgeous set of tracks that is epic in sound and ideas. full review tba of course.

for more details and pictures on the rather nice packaging look : here (the cd is housed in a cardboard 7" single sleeve, which has a cutout in the shape of the silhouette that seems to have become coldcuts new 'logo')

crack'on

mark e

ireallylovemusic

another one : grand mal news

2005-12-19T22:59:00.000Z

an update on an album i love, that has yes to get out there amongst the real world.

grand mal - love is the best con in town.

bill whitten of the band, has managed to find love with a new new york label : new york night train recordings

hopefully the label will secure some sort of distribution in the uk, but hey in these days of the internet who needs the record to appear in the shops, get clicking and hassle those fine folks for details as to how you can hear this brilliant mixture of 70's glam, lazy hazy rolling stones sleaze and some beautifully subtle production by dave fridmann.

if you remember the band at all, then head over to the ireallylovemusic interview section ('q+a'), where i quiz bill on all things boring and mundane. perhaps.

g'night.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

exclusive : bronze age fox album tracklisting

2005-12-19T22:51:00.000Z

for a while back there, the 3 bronze age fox shaped singles were on constant rotation, well ok, not the actual singles as the pressings were of a dreadful quality according to dave of the band, i was lucky. i got the review promo of the tracks.

needless to say, when i heard that the band were being given the chance to record an album, with some aid from a loved up record label, i was happy as can be.

several band members packed in their dayjobs (thus preventing me from bumping into them during my lunch hour .. oh lucky them), and off they went to seek their fame and fortune.

the resultant album was recorded ages ago, but has yet to see the light of day due to a shift in the market, a change in colour, logo aint quite right, make up your own excuse.

subsequently, my patience wore thin. so a few unsubtle nudges later i have been given the chance to hear the results.

here's the tracklist

album title : impossible !

impossible !/denizens of the deep/hidden track/carry me/beers/cloths/touché/pinstripe/you wouldn't want me to lie/late at night, late at night/how to fall in love.

now, i have only heard the album once properly, and as before i know that it takes a few listens for the combination of doms alter boy vocals and the twisted pop music (with all the unusual tweaking amongst the straightforward song structures) to completely become understood i will be holding off before i reveal my thoughts, but 'you wouldn't want me to lie' is a classic, but, be safe in the knowledge that if you liked the singles then the album is going to become an object of obsession.

lets just hope it gets on the release schedule in 2006.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

bits-n-pieces

2005-12-16T15:47:00.000Z

hello.

first things first. a simple piece of paper sells for money on the internet. and people are interested. why ?

it has the words 'arctic monkeys' written on it. fantastic. interested? then go loook-n-bid : here

also, i have to mention a great book (book !) that dropped through my inbox recently. it's simply called 'the festive fifty' and has been put together by mark whitby. as the name implies, this is a complete and very thorough rundown on the john peel festive fifty, with more lists, analysis and personal insight, than anyone should ever feel compelled to compile. but amazingly, mark has done this deed, and a damn fine job he has done to. it's a wonderfully addicitve archive of information, and provides a fascinating snapshot year on year of the predominantly uk music scene of each year. totally recommended.

details : 'the festive fifty' - by mark whitby. published by nevin publishing (isbn 0-9548317-0-5) for a mere 12 pounds.

music wise - well i'm still rediscovering the ROC back catalogue, i mean has anyone told you how great their track 'dear nicky' is off their first album ? no. well that's a serious let down. go find it out there on the wires or state an interest in the usual places and i may sort out a freebie download.

message ends

mark e

ireallylovemusic

c'mon, i'm getting all lonely

2005-12-15T20:51:00.000Z

the all new ireallylovemusic message board : liven this dead space up, or the fucker dies.

after a day of getting down to the mad and bad urban beats of oxide and neutrino (bargain bin regulars - but the production on both albums is amazing - deep bass pulses and furious beats, very now, despite being released years ago), i have returned to the glorious new album by ROC, the single, as mentioned below, is probably the most urgent and insistent track on the album, but the rest has a power to enthral, thrill and (dis)comfort. mainly mellow and electronic, parts are infused with typically unusual treatments but always maintaining a great level of listenability. this album couldn't have come at a better time.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

hell ..

2005-12-14T21:40:00.000Z

..o

posted reviews for the latest hard-n-heavy release by korn (can we drop that effing reverse 'r' yet ?) 'see you on the other side', and the far lighter double cd reissue of 'the ego has landed' by ztt's honky that originally surfaced in '94.

in other news - roc are back. the strange but beautifully compelling combination of electro/industrial/ambient/d-n-b/hip-hop etc that were the subject of much record label chaos a few years ago, have rejoined the human race with recent low profile 7" releases and noises that are available via their website. go find out if the latest limited edition 7" single, 'journey to the center of brixton' does good stuff for you, like it does me. it's fantastic. spread the word far and wide.

album on its way via the appropiately named 12 apostles label. more detail : here

thank you.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

time for some xmas cheer

2005-12-12T08:33:00.000Z

hell.o

earlier in the year, 'the boy least likely to' released a delicate lovely little album. amazingly as 2005 progressed it became apparent that others liked their happydaze indie pop groove, resulting in the lads supporting james blunt on a jaunt around the country.

now to celebrate such mad and wonderful times they have decided to spread the love a little further.

pete and jof have put online their version of the xmas classic, 'little donkey'. available from the bands website as of today (sometime) for a limited time only.

go get

oh, and for those that aren't aware, ireallylovemusic interviewed them on all thing nice and easy recently, the results of which are still online in the usual place.

thanks

mark e

ireallylovemusic

breaking news : minuteman

2005-12-06T15:10:00.000Z

i rarely do this kinda thing .. but today i received news about minuteman direct from the bands main man, matt jones, which i thought i'd pass on to the rest of the world :

it is with no small amount of deliberation that I am announcing that we have decided to end the Minuteman journey.

After nearly 6 years of blood, sweat, tears, drugs, lack of sex and rock 'n' roll it's time for us to move on... It's by no means the end of us working together, in fact it is to be the start of something shiny, new and exiting. We're already making plans to take over the world and stamp our own brand of skinny white-boy funk all over the bottom end of the charts..

From a personal point of view I'd like to thank everyone that has been involved throughout the years... Those that were there from the start (Schneck, Paul Thomson, Tim Weller, Alec Mckinley, Marcus Russell, Luke McGrellis, Dom Walker, Charlie Myatt, Vic Shuttleworth), and everyone involved after that (Ben Winchester, Ronnie Harris and all at Harris and Trotter, Harvey Goldsmith, Vaughan Oliver, Chris Bigg, everyone at Anglo we worked with, Jamie, Carl, Tony, Stu, and Rob at Coalition, and many, many others), not to mention those who worked on the album.. (Paul Stacey, Henry Phillpots, Ian Cooper) and our loyal crew (Kimble, Phil, Ravi et al). It's been an absolute pleasure to work with everyone on what was a labour of love for all of us..

Massive thanks to the minutefans as well, it was all worth it to have met and entertained you all :) Thanks for taking Minuteman to your hearts.

Anyway, on behalf of myself, Jim, Russell, Pete and Phil.... thanks for everything.

It's been an experience.

minuteman x

the phrase 'onwards and upwards' never felt so fitting, though i'm sure matt and his excellent songs will resurface under a new guise in the near future.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

a podcast for you all to rip into

2005-12-05T14:19:00.000Z

hell.o

something in construction records (akira the don, christiansilva, 69 corps amongst others) have released a funky new thing for you freaky ipod'ers : a podcast

listen/download the fragger : here

enjoy.

and for me ? sorry, but it's all about the new girls aloud album, and the rediscovery of the latest joy zipper album, 'the heartlight set', that was criminally ignored, or so i thought, until i recieved the new mojo with their list for the best albums of 2005 - and there it is - straight in at number 44. hurray ! someone else likes it.

game over.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

nme album of the year scandal

2005-12-01T11:02:00.000Z

hell.o.

if you aren't aware, the net is rattling with rumours that the list of nme's best albums of 2005 (printed this week) has been fiddled with.

shock. horror. surely not i hear you cry?

for the more detail go here

http://www.londonist.com/archives/2005/11/scoop_nme_album.php

note the comments, it's becoming quite an interesting debate.

though, surely this practise has always been in action, and not just within the king towers empire either i would say.

in other news : posted a few words re some singles that are on the way or in the shops at the moment, includes weapons of mass belief, the cribs, mystery jets, clap you hands and others.

thanks

mark e

the all new ireallylovemusic message board

and this is why ..

2005-11-30T14:08:00.000Z

.. i love the scaramanga six so much :

elemental (56kBps Mp3 file)

this excellent combination hammond organ and noise was recorded live for a radio session and was hidden away on the band recent 'horrible face' cd single, a crime for such a great track.

so, i have taken it upon myself to share this, so that more people will realise that the band are worthy of further investigation. after all, if this is dropped on a b-side, imagine the power factor that they apply to their a-sides. as the man says:

'hey dont get in my way'

mark e

the all new ireallylovemusic message board

tomorrow its december

2005-11-30T10:57:00.000Z

hell.o

following the recent launch of the ireallylovemusic messageboard (slackers and lurkers welcome) i inadvertedly reverted back to my 16 year old angst ridden hormonal entity. yes, its been a constant diet of linkin park and limp bizkit this week. strangely the linkin park remix album does good things, all that major label production, underground hip hop, electro styles is actually makes for a pretty damn fine listen. all of which meant that i decided to venture into the world of fort minor, the new hiphop offspring by mike s from linkin park. while its not a great album it's not bad at all. but, after a few days of over the top production and 'oh my parents hate me' styled anger i needed to feel revitalised.

helllooooooo the scaramanga six.

weeks go by and i forget just how much i love their latest album, 'cabin fever' (out now properly), the sheer force of their pomposity, aural assault and taste for the macabre, both gets the blood rushing as well as putting a bad tempered grin on my face. the fact that the band with all the recent focus on leeds have been totally ignored is just beyond belief for me. guess they are just too awkward to fit any media friendly demographic, or, is it just that the band are actually shit? umm. no they are great. whatever, i care not. i'm off to spin their punked up pop masterpiece 'we rode the storm' once again, and fuck'em all.

mark e

ireallylovemusic

the countdown ends.

2005-11-25T14:09:00.000Z

the final part of the week long interview with akira the don is now upon us, in other words it's Fridays Question:

Cartoons - are you concerned that the use of the cartoon side for your visuals will draw accusations of 'comedy rapper' ?

Answer : No. Anyway, I have said before, comedy has always been an integral part of hiphop (and of folk, the form it replaced), and, more importantly, the best way to deal with serious issues. See Frank Zappa, John Stewart, Private Eye, etc.

in other news : ireallylovemusic is rather proud to announce that there is now a full fledged and hopefully working message board. sign up and lurk.

onwards

mark e

ireallylovemusic

more gubbins for a thursday.

2005-11-24T10:49:00.000Z

after weeks of struggling with the current pile i received a blast of fresh fuzzed up indie guitar pop that's totally put a smile on my face - the very un-cool, non-2005 styled return of the closing credits of britpop era, silver sun. the new single 'immediate' is a wonderful slice of retro bubblegum pop that sort of thing that never gets any love in the uk, but would do well over in certain sunshine states of america (a la the glorious superdrag who don't even release their albums anymore in the uk - grrr). so when their latest album, 'disappear here' arrived in its debut album styled b-movie artwork i knew the time was right. move over hip hop, move over broken ambient beats, tis time for fuzzed up guitars, and heart filling melodies ! 10 tracks - 30 minutes. glorious. not that anyone in the uk will care. shame.

right - back to the future - akira is heading for the charts, so here's Thursdays Question :

Timing - one major white rappers career appears to be drawing to a close (ie Final Curtain), while, yours is in the state of ascension - coincidence or some big plan strategy ?

Answer : Synergy. Everything is synergy.

Final instalment tomorrow - please be patient, its a cracker

oh, one final thing, i posted a yousendit for a friend recently. the album version of the rather fine 'take it' by age of chance.

if anyone is interested in hearing this collision of samples and indie noise from 87 then click here, surely i dont need to explain who/where/why/what about that leeds gang.

till next time, stay alert.

mark e

ireallylovemusic