Ring The Alarm

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away Altern 8 warned us to "watch your bass bins". Similar advice recommended for this bass HEAVY tune from Donaeo, "Riot Music". With a seductive breakbeat and Donaeo's vocal and production skills, it's no wonder this track has been mashing dance floors, car stereos and generally annoying neighbours up and down the UK.

It's taken from his debut album "Party Hard" and is going to rock Notting Hill Carnival this month for sure.



In fact Donaeo is onto a good thing with that song title. How many good tunes have the word 'riot' in them? Well, at least one anyway........

Creepy Clowns

Just a quick one for ya. Check out the psychedelic hip hop sounds of The Gaslamp Killer and his eery ensemble. If a twisted circus came to town I would like to think they would send out macabre clowns to walk the streets handing out flyers, their mp3 players loaded with The Gas Lamp Killers tunes to keep them in the mood for all things morbid and dark.



And then, after a hard days work scaring the townsfolk, back at the ranch when the clowns are chilling out and getting down with the lady clowns i think they might wanna check this one out



Paz, amor y payasos
Peace, love and clowns

Future Minimal

OK, so I've got a bit of a problem with this guys glasses and cardigan. Potentially hypocritical, I am a wearer of specs myself and I have a cardigan. But I have looked and I have looked and I still can't find no defect with this slice of blissed out future funk. They're from Canada, thats about all I know about them. They are here on MySpace
And to hear what I am wittering on about hit play here

The weekend is here, it's Friday night. So what you gonna do? If it's dancing, I don't know about you but in my 80's disco fantasy weekend this record would most definitely have me up there, quite literally enjoying my life, or at least 6 minutes of guilt and care free dance floor pleasure .......

Funk tuerie
Uploaded by funky54140. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

And in my fantasy 'new music from old hip hop legends with a slightly younger hip hop legend' scenario? Clearly it would have to be the Beasties, who are kicking it all over again, because "grandpa been rappin' since '83" and Nas is helping out. Can't wait for the album "Hot Sauce Comittee" to come out but more importantly, MCA get well soon, good health is the most precious thing we have isn't it?

In the meantime, check out "Too Many Rappers"



So there we have it, enjoy your life. And good health. And dance. It's that easy. Paz y amor a todos.

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.

Sunday Selection

Part 1 in an occasional series of Sunday classics. Music that sounds good on a Sunday, particuarly a beautiful sunny day like today.

Please sit back and enjoy.

A nice new conspiracy theory to worry about

Bilderberg is a shadowy annual conference, comprising of about 130 guests who are from the worlds of finance, politics and big business. The very rare times their members have spoken publicly about the content of their meetings, they have refuted being an elite class orchestrating the fate of the planet and its people, just people with very large influence on the world meeting with other people with large influence over the world. The fact that they are so secretive, they dont allow the press to attend, they dont publish statements or attendee lists and that they have extreme security surrounding their annual meeting has lead to the inevitable conspiracy theories. I cant say whether they are evil, innocent, or just a jolly little social club that most of us will not be invited to join. But there are those who accuse them of having the power to install their chosen representatives in positions of power around the world, and indeed of having done so.

Make up your own mind. Further reading below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bildeberg

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/series/charlie-skeltons-bilderberg-files

Dancing On The Ceiling, Saving The World One Lentil At A Time and George Bush

Having been traveling for roughly the last year I didnt have access to my (very) old laptop. This means I didnt have all my favourite websites saved in my IE Favourites. Today I spent some time checking out my favourite old music sites, and found alot of musical joy out there, new music and old music I had never heard before, that got me dancing round the kitchen, and yes, even on the ceiling.

So friends I would like to share some links that come highly recomended, if you like good music that is.

http://www.parisdjs.com/index.php/post/Paris-DJs-Soundsystem-Morning-Sunshine







http://sunnybrooklyn.blogspot.com/">http://sunnybrooklyn.blogspot.com/

http://africolombia.blogspot.com/

http://www.myspace.com/dirtydiggers

Hope you enjoy.

Currently feeling very full from eating too many chocolate biscuits, Mr Kipling cakes and popcorn. Plus had fish and chips for lunch, beans on toast for brunch and porridge and boiled egg (with pitta bread) for breakfast.

However, I will be going part time (3 days a week) vegetarian this week and may even flirt with one day of hardcore veganism per week. Main reason for this is the environmental impact, not to mention social injustice of rearing animals for human consumption. For more read about a small town in Belgium that is going veggy one day a week (its called Ghent and I went to a trance party there in 1997, complete coincedence) http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/may/16/ghent-belgium-vegetarian-town-environment

Oh, and this put a smile on my face too
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2008/aug/12/bushlol?picture=336501045

808 Police State

Yesterday I was waiting for a friend outside Mile End Tube Station. I noticed a police officer outside the station look at me several times during the course of 5, maybe 10 minutes (I was early for my rendezvous). 

The police officer approached me and enquired what I was doing hanging around at the station.

Minding my own business was my response. Why do I need to explain myself to a police officer when I am doing no wrong? 

Where are you from sir, are you British? Were you born in London? 

What this had to do with anything I dont know. Apparently, the officer informed, it is perfectly normal to ask people what they are doing in certain "high risk" areas. 

Why just yesterday she had managed to catch a villain by asking him what he was doing, and it turned out he was a wrong 'un. 1 out of how many? Policing by numbers? 

Now, I have nothing to hide, but I also expect my privacy to be respected. Apparently people are made to feel safe by the police acting in this way, personally, personally I dont feel the need to  report into Big Brother to feel warm and safe from all the nasty problems out there. exactly why do people want to bomb this country? Why do junkies rob old grannies? Is it because society has created these problems, society run by The Government, who then use these problems as reasons for further invading our privacy and civil liberties, slowly making us more dependent on them and used to our liberties being compromised bit by bit?

Slowly civil liberties are being eroded in this country.  CCTV is everywhere (more cameras in the UK than the rest of Western Europe combined), police using kettling techniques to hold innocent protesters against their will (but at least we have the right to demonstrate!), meetings of more than two people in public can be sanctioned by police if they deem it neccesary, we haven't had a right to silence for 15 years now, the present Government has made attempts to introduce trials without jury in certain circumstances. 

Check out The Freedom Bill from the Lib Dems, perhaps time for a change??

http://freedom.libdems.org.uk/

Lazy and Home

P4052532, originally uploaded by stangroomm.

Yes I am bad. I am lazy. Slovenly. Loafish. I haven't updated my blog in ages. I have been "busy" doing other things. Reading. Spanish classes. Travelling. Training. Not much else.
Back home now. In Kenilworth, Warks., England. Looking vaguely for employment of a short term variety. Life back in the economic crisis is actually worse than i thought. Work wise anyway. Im sure there are a tonne of jobs if you want one. And also that you need to work alot harder than before to not even get the same results.
But its nice to be back, with family and friends. Not much changed, although I think I have.

Ok so brief summary of the last few weeks. Popayan (colombia) a very pretty city best known for its Easter Holy Week processions, great if you are a Catholic. San Agustin (Colombia) accesible only via The Road To Hell, a 100km ride from Popayan, that takes 6 hours, the road doesnt deserve to be called a road. You literally crawl along at 15km the whole way because it is basically a collection of holes, held together by some concrete. Anyway, once you get there, its a lovely village next to a very important archeological site, lots of stone carvings of animals, man, manimals etc from pre Christ, ie well old.

A sad farewell to Colombia, I had a great time in a great country, surrounded by great people. The trip home was softened somewhat by a 4 day stay in Rio de Janeiro, one of my favourite cities on the planet Earth. I stayed with Antonio and Patricia, a wonderful couple who like to party and know everyone you need to know in Rio it would seem, anyway, they always seem to show one a good time. Partied pretty hard, in stark contrast to my Puritan behaviour of the last 6 weeks in Colombia (well almost Puritan).

And then the journey home. 10.5 hours flew by, crap food, 5 hours sleep, some TV and a bit of banter past the time away. Luckily arrived back to blue sky and 21 degrees otherwise I may have turned round at T5 and gone home.

Next step is to work out my next step. Most likely, 3 months working in London, save some dosh and then head off again.

Pablos Medellin

To read my thrilling peice of photojournalism on Pablo Escobar, click here

Super Cali Fragalistic Espi-alidocious

P3232507, originally uploaded by stangroomm.

Rainbows over Cali. I am doing Spanish lessons every other day with a geezer called Leandro. Have been training Shaolin Kung Fu in a Martial Arts school, very cool, they train hard too, which I like. Also do alot of Tai Chi there, and they do more of that with the kung fu which is anice touch. The Master of the school is nails without particuarly looking it, always a good sign in Kung Fu. Also training at the hostel with a couple of American guys. One of them, John from NY met a Colombian girl last month and they are now engaged! He moves fast that boy.

Not much else, just enjoying the vibe of the city. There isnt that much to Cali, but it is a nice place to be, nice climate, great people. Went to a tiny little salsa club last night and danced a bit. The Calenos are mad for salsa, the club was full so the crowd spilled over onto the pavement, it was cats and dogs ouside but it didnt stop them from dancing in the rain, salsa crazy these folk.

Viva Californication

P3182469, originally uploaded by stangroomm.

Cali, Colombia, not Cali, California. Dont think I have written anything about Medellin though. I stayed in a super cool hostel called Casa del Sol, a very chilled place, a bit like a chill out party house really, right up my street. Some cool dudes hang out there, had a nice couple of smokes, an Argentinan BBQ or asado as they like to call it, which was delicious and I watched the latest Bond movie on a pirated DVD. I think I must have been slightly under the influence as it was until about half way through that I realised that the language was alternating between English and German, very odd!

Another random thing that happened was this old lady who claimed to be 83 who strode into the hostel, and bear hugged everyone,she claimed that she could squeeze energy out of young people and this was what kept heer so strong, her hand shake would have made Arnie Schwarzanegger wince.

The main reason I was in Medellin was to do the awesome Pablo Escobar tour of Medellin. A 3 and a half hour information packed tour of Pablos Medellin, run by a very cool guy called Nicolas, who basically just comes and picks you up in his little van and drives you round some of the famous Pablo sites of Medellin, like his house, offices, the place where they eventtually tracked him down and killed him and his tomb, all the time talking about what life was actually like in Medellin and Colombia duringg the 90s when Pablo was at war with the Colombian governement. I was really fascinated by it, he was according to Forbes magazine at the time, the 7th richest man on the planet, all of his money totally illegal and a very intelligent businessman, albeit slightly unorthodox in the way he went about doing business. He had a very simple rule, "plata o plomo" , "silver or lead", meaning if you worked for him you got paid, if you didn't you would get a bullet through your skull. Nicolas had first hand experience of Pablos ways, his friend and friends Mum were killed by one of Pablos bombs, planted outside a police station in Medellin.

It is worth noting here, for those of you who havent been to Colombia or Medellin that it is now a beautiful city, very modern with some wonderful architecture and the people went through some very hard times in the 90s which they have put behind them. It seems those times inspired them to rebuild their city and culture, it is a very cool and progressive place, not to mention full of beautiful women.

I have since been in Cali for the last 5 days. Chilling out really, again, found a nice hostel called Iguanas with some good people there, it will be my home until next Saturday when I'm heading to Popayan for the Easter festivities and then San Agustin, an archealogical site of great importance in South America, home to some statues that are pre Colombine. It is in some beautiful countryside and I am going to be camping.

Buena vida indeed but I have just under 4 weeeks to go before I will be home.....so I am starting to think about the future. Will it be London, Ibiza, Barcelona or China?

I've Got A Lovely Bunch Of Coconuts

CIMG5326, originally uploaded by stangroomm.

Token "Carry On" style photo opportunity, I attempted the Sid James laugh as well.