Extended Play George FM 1 Dec 2004

Mtume-Ready for Your Love (re-edit)-Moxie-2004 Ruth Joy-Don’t Push It-MCA-1990 JVC Force-Strong Island-B-Boy-1987 3^rd Bass-Stepping to the AM (Soiree Mix)-Def Jam-1990 The Delfonics-Ready or Not-RCA-1968 BB & Q-Dreamer (Shep Pettibone mix)-Chrysalis-1985 Wally Jump Jnr & The Criminal Element-I Just Can’t Stop Dancing-Breakout-1987 Trouble Funk-Drop The Bomb-Sugarhill-1982 Smith & Mighty-Killa-3 Stripe-1992 Johnny Harris-Odyssey PT 2-TK-1980 Shanice-I Like (MAW 54 dub)-Motown-1994 Harrison Crump-Ride-CDR-2004 Kerri Chandler-Glory to God-Subwoofer-1994 PNAU-Again-Underwater-2004 Sly & Robbie-Ticket to Ride-4^th & Broadway-1985 Simphonia-It Ain’t Right (Paul Simpson vocal)-Atlantic-1987 Chikinki-Something More (Tiefschwarz vocal)-Island-2004 Human League-The Sound of the Crowd (12”)-Virgin-1981 Frankie Knuckles-Only The Strong Survive-DJ International-1987 Turntablerocker-Love Supreme (Reduce to the Dub 2002)-Fine-2004 The Underground Trackmaster-Futuristic Throwback-Mixing-2004 Liquid-Sweet Harmony-XL-1992 Vince Watson-Innersense-FU F Com-2004 Tantra-A Place Called Tarot (Idjit Boys re-edit)-Tirk-2004 Isolee-Brazil.Com (Tiefschwarz Ole Ole mix)-Classic-2002 David Duriez-On My Elbows (HardFloor remix)-Duriez-2004 Mateo Murphy-Panic-Underwater-2004 Inner City-Hallelujah (Leftfield On High Vox)-Virgin-1992

The byline at the top of this blog has a passing mention of food, a subject which originally was the intended focus of this thing, but one which I've avoided to date..cowardice maybe. So to it..... I hate to start with a brickbat but I'm going to. There are so many wonderful restaurants in Auckland town, many of which I'm something of a regular at, however I'm sorry to say, flavour of the week, Soto, in St Mary's Bay, is, on first visit, not one of them. The old fire station at the top end of St Mary's Bay Rd has, over the past decade, had a fearsome reputation (take that as you will) as Plusone but its time was well past and the appearance of a good and inventive Japanese in the area was well overdue, so there was quite a buzz about Soto, some seven months in the making. Sadly good and inventive are two words that can't be applied to Soto. However, slow, unimaginative, poorly prepared, over priced ($5 for green tea anybody?) and disorganised can be. I mean, the place looks wonderful but from the initial attempt of the waiting staff to place us by the front door on a cold windy night, we should have known something was not right. There was no liquor license, even BYO (with seven months available to get one) Then a one and a half hour wait for a cold, fatty and bland Tenshin. You can get a better, more exciting Japanese dinner box for twelve bucks in any food hall. There was, by way of apology from a staff, an inedible seafood soup offered however the manager / owner, who was leaning on the bar made no effort to even offer a word. Soto...well maybe it will improve but it will be a cold day in hell before I'll venture back. I'll try to make my next food thang a little more positive...I promise.

Extended Play George FM 24.11.04

Sergio Mendes-The Real Thing (Beedle Re-edit)-Ghetto Defendant-2004 Tantra-A Place called Tarot (Idjit Boys Re-edit)-Tirk-2004 Eric B & Rakim-Move The Crowd (Wild Bunch remix)-4^th & Broadway-1987 The Others-Hot Vs Cold-CDR-2004 Johnny Harris-Odyssey (Zongamin re-edit)-OST-2004 Vance & Suzanne-Can’t Get Along without You (Carl Craig Can’t Get it Anywhere re-edit)-Moxie-2004 Cherelle-Artificial Heart (Dance remix)-Tabu-1985 ABC-The Look of Love (Trevor Horn Special remix)-Neutron-1982 Inner City-Whatcha Gonna Do with My Lovin’ (Knuckles / Morales Def mix)-Virgin-1989 Fresh 4-Wishing on a Star-Ten-1990 Blake Baxter-Enjoy the Silence (Luv Lotto mix)-The Sound Republic of Detroit -2004 T Connection-At Midnight (Danny Tenaglia raw mix)-TK-1993 Dee-lite-How Do you Say…Love (Pal Joey Dub)-Elektra-1990 NYDC-NY-Tribal-1993 Delia Gonzalez & Gavin Russom-Rise (DFA mix)-DFA-2004 Klatsch-God Save the Queer-Fresh Fruit-1994 Rex the Dog-I Look Into Mid Air-Kompact -2004 Timmy Thomas-Why Can’t We live Together (Pressure Drop remix)-OST-2004 Sandy’s Gang-Hungry (Sean P re-edit)-Tirk-2004 69-Ladies and Gentlemen-Planet E-1991 Tim Wright-Oxygen (Abe Duque Mix)-NovaMute-2004 Inner City-Say Something-KMS-2004 Mateo Murphy-Panic-Underwater-2004 Yellow Magic Orchestra-Computer Game (theme from The Circus) / Firecracker -Horizon /Alpha-1979 Chic-I feel My Love Coming On (Carl Craig Bloody Cheeky remix)-Moxie-2004 Alden Tyrell-Disco Lunar Module-Clone-2004

One of the pleasures of having a blog is the ability to shameless plug things my friends are involved with, so...........National Radio (101.4fm if you are in New Zealand) continues its tireless struggle to provide some of the best radio you'll hear anywhere in the world (how's that Chris?) with a four part documentary series, "A Change is Gonna Come", starting on Sunday 22 January, 2005 at 3.04 (don't you love the way Nat Radio has programmes at 3.04? NZBC used to do that on TV too, years ago..."News at 6.23, followed by Town & Around at 6.34"), which charts the twists and turns and development of black American music over the past century (actually until 1980...I've already hassled them about no house or techno). Crafted by Chris Bourke, whose career itself deserves a program, he describes it this way:

I spent the winter working on a 4 part personal history of black music for Concert Radio. They were 55 mins each and I wrote as brief a script as I could get away with, preferring to let old news soundbites and black poetry to tell the story, and mix it together so it was fast paced enough to feel like two turntables, but not so fast that each piece of music got a decent spin.

And decent spin they do get...the soundtrack is mind boggling in its breadth and the research and detail astonishing. The topic itself encompasses such a spread of music, influences, styles and people who truely matter. Its a brave person to tackle WC Handy & Sly Stone, but the link is obvious and Chris draws that line between the two, and everyone in between, often using their own words . Looking forward to this

How fucking cool are The Others? I’m not talking about the US or the English bands with the same name, rather our Auckland version, 3 kids from Mt Albert that I first encountered at the Suede Bar in Symonds St earlier this year.

As I said in an earlier post, I’m not a massive fan of most of the current crop of NZ hip hop acts (although Scribe I believe is a true pop star (and has benefited from intelligent and dedicated hard work from his label), he has what Pauly Fuemana had what a young Graham Brazier had all those years ago at the Globe Hotel in 1975, what Ray Columbus had, although without a global record company, which FMR is not, its hard to see how he’ll go beyond Australasia, I mean he ain’t Mos Def) and the failure of Misfits of Science album to set the stores alight (less than 300 sold in its week of release, out of 7500 shipped) may mean the kids don’t have much faith in most of them. The Mareko album didn’t exactly sell despite all the hype too. I just find it rather sad, that as hip hop evolves and develops around the world at a revolutionary pace, much of the stuff that we throw out sits uncomfortably in the mid nineties looking backward. To me, the industry hype is simply the Emperor's brand new outfit from people who would have a great deal of trouble telling an EPMD record from Jay-Z.

But there is something different about these guys, something I hadn’t felt since the early punk bands, an energy, a cool urgency factor. You can pick it in the room. That you need to be there, to experience this because it may never come again. Something I last felt with The Enemy years ago at Zwines. And no subservient Americana either, in their delivery or appearance.

Since I’m trying to get these guys hooked up to a record deal, I’m more than a little biased, but I felt it the first time I heard them, long before that. The lush, almost epic soundscapes, the effortlessly to and fro twists of their very stream of conciousness rhymes (that don’t speak to me as I’m far too old but I’m used to that..you talk to your peers, especially in hiphop, although this sits on the edge of being something else) really are something beyond the cliches.

Like I said, fucking cool. I’m seriously impressed, guys.