Music-packed joy from start to finish this month – new albums from Sleepy Sun, Holy Fuck, Flying Lotus, The Divine Comedy, Tracey Thorn, Ellen Allien, Benga, Trash Kit and Silver Columns plus very quick gig reviews of Jonsi, Stornoway, Johann Johannsson, Pavement, The above-mentioned Divine Comedy, the Steve Reid Memorial at Cafe Oto and last night’s wonderful gig in celebration of Tom Robinson’s 60th birthday starring Little Comets, Chew Lips, members of Franz Ferdinand and The Cribs and Toumani Diabaté amongst others.

You can download the full show from here or hear a few tracks through Spotify.

1. Steve Reid – Rhythm Is Law /Jazz – Tribute To Great Black from A Drum Story (Altrisuoni)
2. Rocketnumbernine – Doodlebug from You Reflect Me (Trace)
3. Tracey Thorn – Late In The Afternoon from Love and its Opposite (Strange Feeling)
4. Sleepy Sun – Desert God from Fever (ATP)
5. The Divine Comedy – At The Indie Disco from Bang Goes the Knighthood (Divine Comedy)
6. Beck – Loser from Mellow Gold (DGC)
7. Trash Kit – 50ft Woman from Trash Kit (Upset the Rhythm)
8. Holy Fuck – Stilettos from Latin (XL)
9. Gold Panda – You – Minotaur Shock Remix from You (single)
10. Tunng – Bullets (Max Tundra remix) from Remixes (Full Time Hobby)
11. Hot Chip – I Feel Better – Max Cooper Remix (unreleased)
12. LCD Soundsystem – I Can Change from This is Happening (DFA)
13. Silver Columns – To Wake You from Yes, and Dance (Moshi Moshi)
14. Ellen Allien – Schlumi from Dust (Bpitch Control)
15. Aardvarck – Heal from Choice (Eat Concrete)
16. Benga – Transform from Phaze One (Tempa)
17. Flying Lotus – Satelllliiiiiiiteee from Cosmogramma (Warp)
18. Oy – The Kitten from From Box then Walk (Creaked)
19. Oy – Aeh from From Box then Walk (Creaked)
20. Oy – Positivili Two from From Box then Walk (Creaked)
21. Oy – Cloudy Gallery from From Box then Walk (Creaked)
22. Toumani Diabaté – Kaounding Cissoko from The Mandé Variations (World Circuit)
23. Little Comets – Dancing Song (unreleased)
24. Chew Lips – Toro from Unicorn (Family)
25. Tom Robinson Band – Glad To Be Gay from Power in the Darkness (EMI)

Gosh, doesn’t time fly – here’s yet another slew of top tunage and random chat to keep you entertained for a couple of hours.

There was a bit of a problem with the live recording, but I’ve mostly fixed it up (you might find the left or right side drops out for a bit sometimes…) and you can download the entire show from here or listen to available tracks on Spotify here

1. LCD Soundsystem – ‘Drunk Girls’ from Drunk Girls (DFA)
2. Harry Thumann – ‘Underwater’ from Laptop Vinyl (Hansa)
3. Chrome Hoof – ‘Vapourise’ from Vapourise (Southern)
4. HEALTH – ‘Die Slow’ from GET COLOR (Lovepump United)
5. School Of Seven Bells – ‘Babelonia’ from Disconnect From Desire (Ghostly)
6. Echaskech – ‘How To Fly’ from Green (Balkan Vinyl)
7. Caribou – ‘Hannibal’ from Swim (City Slang)
8. Cursor Miner – ‘Shakin’ Heathens’ from Shakin’ Heathens (Uncharted Audio)
9. Ikonika – ‘Heston’ from Contact, Love, Want, Have (Hyperdub)
10. Starkey – ‘Club Games (Featuring Cerebral Vortex & Buddy Leezle)’ from Ear Drums and Black Holes (Planet Mu)
11. Artful Dodger – ‘Think About Me’ from It’s All About The Stragglers (FFRR)
12. Sneaker Pimps – ‘Spin Spin Sugar’ from Becoming X (Clean Up)
13. Stereolab – ‘The Free Design’ from Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night (Duophonic)
14. Terry Callier – ‘Look at Me Now’ from Essential Terry Callier: The Very Best Of Terry Callier (Mercury)
15. cLOUDDEAD – ‘Pop Song’ from Ten (Big Dada)
16. Broadcast & The Focus Group – ‘Let it begin/Oh joy’ from Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age (Warp)
17. Black Moth Super Rainbow – ‘Forever Heavy’ from Dandelion Gum (Graveface)
18. Rob Marr – ‘Girls In Glasses’ from Domestic Dramas (http://www.robmarr.net/)
19. School Of Zuversicht – ‘1, 2, 3’ from Randnotizen From Idiot Town (Pingipung)
20. The Ruby Suns – ‘Cranberry’ from Fight Softly (Memphis Industries)
21. Greg Haines – ‘Industry vs. Inferiority’ from Until The Point Of Hushed Support (Sonic Pieces)

Hello dear friends and strangers. Up now is my Purple Radio radio show from last night. You can download and listen at your leisure.

Thrill at descriptions of Bloc Weekend, swoon at the downtempo beauty, marvel at the sound of my percussion-filled youth with not just one but TWO pieces of music that made me who I am today and have a good old bounce around the room with a nice up finale.

You can download the entire show from here, or get just under an hour’s worth of music via the Spotify playlist.

1. Sam Amidon – Rain and Snow from ‘I See The Sign’ (Bedroom Community)
2. Ólöf Arnalds – Náttsöngur from ‘Við og við’ (12 Tónar)
3. Helios – Distance from ‘Unleft’ (Circle into Square)
4. Choir of Young Believers – Wintertime Love (Sain Alice Group Remix) from ‘Claustrophobia’ (single) (Ghostly)
5. Michael Askill – Fabian Theory (Composer: Nigel Westlake) from ‘Australian: Percussion’ (Celestial Harmonies)
6. The Magnetic Fields – Papa Was A Rodeo from ‘69 Love Songs’(Domino)
7. Sam Amidon – Relief from ‘I See The Sign’ (Bedroom Community)
8. Jónsi – Around Us from ‘Go’ (Parlophone)
9. Efterklang – Scandinavian Love from ‘Magic Chairs’ (4AD)
10. Daedelus – Stampede Me from ‘Righteous Fists of Harmony’ (Brainfeeder)
11. Gorillaz – Cloud of the Unknowing (feat Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVa) from ‘Plastic Beach’ (Parlophone)
12. Loops Haunt – Hurache from ‘Rubber Sun Grenade EP’ (Fortified Audio)
13. DJ Zinc – Wile Out (feat Ms Dynamite) from ‘Wile Out’ (single) (Zinc)
14. Supergrass – Strange Ones from ‘I Should Coco’ (EMI)
15. Half Man Half Biscuit – Joy Division Oven Gloves from ‘Achtung Bono’ (Probe Plus)
16. Three Trapped Tigers – 13 from ‘EP 3′ (Blood and Biscuits)
17. Maria Grochowska – Ionisation (Composer: Edgard Varese) from ‘VARESE: Orchestral Works, Vol. 2 – Ameriques / Equatorial / Nocturnal / Ionisation’ (Naxos)
18. Laurent Garnier – Man With The Red Face (Live Recording With Bugge Wesseltoft) from ‘Retrospective 94-06′ (F Communications)
19. Fuck Buttons – Olympians from ‘Tarot Sport’ (ATP)

(Photo by Justin King)

The second of my two Favourite Bits of 2009 shows (the other is here) – this show is mainly about the downtempo, more electronic side of the svelte repertoire, though there’s some off-kilter indie and folkish type business in the middle, and a couple of tracks to dance to at the end.

You can download the whole show from here, or check out a limited number of tracks (about 50 mins worth) through Spotify here. Again, I urge you to go and buy records you like, or check out the various gigs these people do. THEY DESERVE YOUR CASH.

The all important tracklisting and links to stuff wot I talked about in the show:

1. Bat For Lashes – ‘The Big Sleep’ from Two Suns (EMI)
2. Bowerbirds – ‘Beneath Your Tree’ from Upper Air (Dead Oceans)
3. Kathryn Williams – ‘Sustain Pedal (live)’ from The Quickening (One Little Indian)
4. Antony and The Johnsons – ‘Dust And Water’ from The Crying Light (Rough Trade)
5. The Beaufort Scale – ‘Boej Kashmet’ from Forgotten Memories (Bandcamp)
6. LJ Kruzer – ‘Ter4’ from Manhood & Electronics (Uncharted Audio)
7. Tim Hecker – ‘Borderlands’ from An Imaginery Country (Kranky)
8. Peter Broderick – ‘Diverge’ from Docile (Erased Tapes)
9. St Vincent – ‘The Bed’ from Actor (4AD)
10. Gènia – ‘John Richards Suite for Piano and Electronics (Gabriel Prokofiev ‘Dirty Organ’ Remix)’ from John Richards – Suite for Piano and Electronics (Nonclassical)
11. Bill Callahan – ‘My Friend’ from Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle (Drag City)
12. Sleepy Sun – ‘Golden Artifact’ from Embrace (ATP)
13. Mama Lucky – ‘House Of The Unknown’ from Permanent Stranger (Mama Lucky)
14. The Duckworth Lewis Method – ‘Jiggery Pokery’ from The Duckworth Lewis Method
15. Samandtheplants – Henbane Beer from The Eft (Twisted Nerve)
16. Micachu – Curly Teeth from Jewellery (Warner Bros)
17. YACHT – Psychic City from See Mystery Lights (DFA)
18. Fever Ray – Dry And Dusty from Fever Ray (Rabid)
19. Soap&Skin – Marche Funèbre (DJ Koze Marxa mix) from Marche Funèbre EP (Pias)
20. Yimino – Doe from Autonoe Vera (Ominim)
21. Eno – Moebius – Roedelius – Foreign Affairs from After The Heat (Water)
22. Lucky Elephant – Neptune from Starsign Trampoline (Sunday Best)
23. Major Lazer – Pon de Floor from Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do (Downtown)
23. Four Tet – Love Cry (Joy Orbison Remix) from Love Cry 12″ (Domino)
24. Black Meteoric Star – ‘World Eater’ from Black Meteoric Star (DFA)

Chimera Productions – who put on Blank Canvas

LJ Kruzer @ Concrete, Saturday 16th January

First Biosphere symphonic work and the London Contemporary Orchestra @ The Roundhouse, Saturday 23rd January

Samandtheplants, Jon Hopkins and many more at a Celebration of Quiet Music @ Cecil Sharp House, Saturday 23rd January

Kathryn Williams @ Purcell Room, Saturday 6th March

Varese 360° @ The Southbank Centre, 16 – 18 April

Four Tet and Joy Orbison @ The Dome, Tufnell Park, 12th February

Video on youtube

I’ve just found out that one of my favourite English blues/folk musicians, John Martyn has died today, after a long battle with alcoholism and drug addiction.

Throughout his career, John Martyn blurred the lines between blues, folk, and dub, experimenting with taking the traditional folk sound and adding elecronic effects in the 70’s. he mixed with some of the most influential musicians of the era, including Jimi Hendrix, Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry, David Gilmour and Eric Clapton.

He hit the big-time with his 1973 album, ‘Solid Air’, written in response to the death of his friend, Nick Drake. He followed this up with a number of live album, before the breakup of his marriage inspired John to write ‘Grace and Danger’. The material was so close to the bone that Island Records initially refused to release it. John described himself as ‘going off a cliff’ after it’s release, and started on a downward spiral of drugs and drink.

I first heard John Martyn’s work on a compilation, where he covered Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’ so well that I thought it was the original. Soon afterwards I picked up on of the Cafe del Mar compilations that had Talvin Singh’s remix of ‘Sunshine’s Better’, which is equally fantastic. His ‘Solid Air’ album was such a favourite of mine and my wifes that we played ‘May You Never’ during the signing of the register at our wedding.

John Martyn / May You Never

John Martyn / Glory Box

John Martyn / Sunshine’s Better (Talvin Singh Remix)

I’m sad he’s gone. RIP John Martyn

If you are like me, then you occasionally get obsessed with a song.

I’ve been playing Playing Dead for three months and I still can’t get enough. There’s something magical about it – the percussion is deep, the strings are mournful, the words are hard to work out but ultimately optimistic, he’s got a bit of Bill Callahan about him and she sounds like she’s fifty years too late. It’d be easy to lump this in with Bon Iver and the rest of them, but there’s something extra special about it.

Who knows who Breathe Owl Breathe are, but they look great and I hope they come over here soon.

Breathe Owl Breathe – Playing Dead

Buy Breathe Owl Breathe at eMusic

“I got you, didn’t I.” Yep, you did.