Know Your Rights

If you love rock and roll memorabilia, The Clash or just are curious about an interesting alternative library head over to Portobello Road maket and visit Mick Jones' Rock n Roll Public Library. I went over today and was lucky enough to see and hear Mick in the rehearsal room jamming with Glenn Matlock of The Sex Pistols, two legends of punk just hanging out playing Clash and Sex Pistols tunes and drinking cans of Carlsberg. The library is full of memorabilia from Mick Jones private collection and encourages the visitor to interact, photograph and even use the scanner to create their own images to take away (maybe put one on a t shirt?) and is heavy on Clash, BAD and Beatles stuff, although is by no means limited to these bands.

">

">

We were treated to "Pretty Vacant" and "Train In Vain". I did take some photos but because we were behind glass (or were they?) they didn't come out great, click here to check them and some of the library


Keep an eye out also for the very friendly old dude with bleached blonde hair who goes by the name of Desmond. He is the older brother of punk documentor (is that a word) Don Letts and will personally welcome you to the library and entertain with stories of his past ("John Lennon, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, I sold them all ganja"). Top bloke, as was Mick who came out of the rehearsal room and thanked the gob smacked fans for coming along to his little show.

Full details here


">

Swine Time

I have a cold. But its not swine flu. I know this because colds come on slow, flu's hit you fast. So remember that. But be careful. Swine flu can strike at any moment just like a tune from the past, thats 30 years old, that you never heard before, but you instantly know and love. When I was 8 my favourite record was Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines". I didnt know what it was about, but I knew it was an incredible sound. I heard this for the first time last night, it is Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five under their earlier name "The Younger Generation". Why did no one tell me about this tune before?

">

I was reminded, by the power of Facebook and an old friend, of this wicked little number as a result of uploading The Younger Generation to my Facebook profile



Now, I heard this ladies voice on a Mos Def track this week, which is called "The Ecstatic" and is out around now. She features on the track "Roses" and goes by the name of Georgia Anne Muldrow. In my opinion she steals the track, I don't know if it was her track originally, but have a listen and see what I mean.



To liken her to the Erykah Badu would be easy and unfair but she does have the nu soul vibe going on. Signed to Stones Throw she has been releasing albums for a few years now so worth checking out. http://www.myspace.com/georgiaannemuldrow



Just gotta mention this one, cos its Mos Def rapping in Spanish. Really looking forward to getting hold of the album now.

">


Ending on a high, this one kind of smashes it........

">

No, we're not ending it there because you have to listen to this wonderful African Funk sound from the 70s.......make you clap your hands.........



Paz, salud y amor a todos, because that's all it's about.......

New Old Soul

This guys stuff is the shit, and there is quite a buzz building up, Gilles Peterson and Benji B are big fans. Well, from what I've heard of it anyway demonstrates he deserves such learned fans. Smokey Robinson influenced, his music sounds like it comes from a different age whilst still sounding fresh and relevant, kind of like The White Stripes in that respect, although he has allowed the modern world to work into his sounds, namely hip hop, of the J Dilla variety.



His album is going to drop this Autumn on Stones Throw, a highly recommended label

and check this sound out



Can't wait for the album to hit the streets, plus would love to hear him spin, guesting on a Gilles Peterson podcast he played some of the most divine soul sounds I have heard, which you should be able to hear right about here



On a darker note, I have recently been receiving some racist emails into my junk folder in my hotmail account. Some guy called RJames, a right wing Christian scary type somehow started spamming me through Google Groups. I certainly don't recall subscribing to his particular line of hatred and have notified Google of his groups offensive postings. I know of at least one other person who was receiving unsolicited messages from this guy. At least it is a reminder that although the web can be used for good purposes, there is also some bad folk out there using it to spread their messages of hate and we need to remain vigilant of them.

Paz y amor a todos

RIP

There is alot that I could say here but its already been said all over the world. He will be missed. This man was the brightest star that shone. RIP

Here is a musical tribute from Sway and also a very good article from the Guardian.

By The Power Of Greyskull

Has nothing to do with this blog entry, I just felt like writing it. This has been a good week for me music wise. I have been lucky enough to have my ears treated to some awesome tunes, which I will try and share with you here. It has come to my attention that if you are reading this on Facebook, then you will not realise that there are videos embedded in the posting. I have no idea why that is, but if you want to check out the tunes, you will need to go to my blogpage itself

Anyways, on with the music. Starting with this guy Jose James, an Irish/Panamanian jazz singer from Brooklyn. A real interesting voice, sounds a little like Antony Hegarty singing jazz.


This week I have had alot of love for J DIlla, mainly due to listening to some great sets from J Rocc and Madlib on Radio 1 and 1 Extra. Respect.






OK so this one is massive, its not out yet so quality not great here, but good enought to check out and enjoy


Diplo doing some favela funk sounds

It doesn't look like the crowd are really getting it!

This was rocking the gym yesterday, where I did some good chi sao with my mate Gyan. Well, he kind of kicked my ass actually, although I got a couple of sweet punches in.


Everyone seems to be putting balaeric piano in their tunes right now, well alot of the indie sounds anyway









Jay Z may be dissing Autotune but Kanye is still using it in this mix of Mr Hudson


Not balaeric but enjoyable.

What a trip this has been, from jazz to The Horrors. Thats all for now. I had a nice time, hope you did too.

Sunday Night Selection

I'm tired, I went to a party in the countryside last night, camped in a field, my tent leaked and i woke up in a puddle, rather cold to say the least. i then had quite a bike ride today. i'm exhausted, but as my friend patrick said, "you should be tired on a sunday night". I guess that means you got the most out of a weekend, before going back to the rat race.

Anyway, enough of that. Some music from the past 25 years, no particular theme, just good stuff.

La Murga De Panama

This was the dopest salsa track I heard on my travels. Check out the brass section, bad ass sounds.