Music and Culture fantompowa

Dolehouse Reunion lightshow

A night of controlled chaos and good grooves, seeing old familiar faces from another time – that’s gone full circle…
Peckham Palais hosted a night of bands and music featuring artists, singers and players who had all started on the road to now in the Peckham Dolehouse back in the day (1989-91).
The Sea, RDF, Dread Messiah, Back to the Planet (Fil, Guy, Alex, Karl, Fraggle and Henry) played downstairs; upstairs the throng were treated to some stonkin’ Acid Techno from the ones that made it happen then – and are still rocking the custard now . . . headlining were Dave the Drummer and Geezer . . .

Amongst the many faces popping out from the strobes, lasers and general mayhem were Bev (without whom it would not have happened ) and the REKNAW crew, Andy, Keith, Marshal, Bif, Megan and, of course, the world’s greatest surviving Greek South East Londoner Big Al – who made at least one crowd-pleasing appearance onstage (with BTTP)

We’ll soon be uploading the above to You Tube . . .

Live music as it was and should be . . .

A wicked night at the Peckham Palais on Rye Lane on Friday 25th January 2013, with the Virus Sound System. Highlight of our evening was Geezer (Guy McAffer’s ) set when he blasted the techno room with his new set, straight back from a tour of Australia.
For us the real highspot was seeing the crowd go crazy when he unleashed the new tune we did together with him, that is due for release on RAW records (as a vinyl single) sometime soon. We’ll keep you updated !
Thanx for the wicked night, folks . . .

We have two new tunes out on the number one acid techno label STAY UP FOREVER.

Now available on 909 London

They are remixes of two bangin’ original aceed tunes we did with the Geezer back in the day – so they have had the full treatment and are guaranteed to rock the custard and cut to the mustard . . .

You can hear a sample of the tracks on the site 909 LONDON . . . they are currently at No.1 & No.2 in the 909 Download chart

Check it out . . . original Acid Techno – for 2012

Both Dadawas and Government Man are tunes done in the original Geezer studio at New Cross Road with Guy McAffer on the controls and vocal contributions from 3 Key Sound‘s Tony Hippolyte. Remixed and remonstered at the new Geezer Bell Green Studio by Guy with JH and BB of the fantompowa posse.

Buy yourself a download and terrorise your block . . . .

This Friday 22nd July sees another fine Steve Elwell promotion. The gig features a live set from One True Dog who are launching a new album on the night. Also featured are dr Marias all the way from Hungary (so that bus ride is not so far after all).

The gig is at the old police station in New Cross which is a DIY art space and a new exhibition also starts that night. Check their site for more info.

The second installment of the Dancehall Special is up and running.

The mix kicks off with the full song/version of Pressure. Classic Greensleeves business Jimmy Cliff versioned by Josey Wales.

The mix continues in less rootsy style with tunes from Dennis, Gregory, Frankie Paul and Suger Minott.

All from the original twelves so expect the odd crackle!

While trying to dig out my copy of Police Officer by the late Smiley Culture, I unearthed a pile of old dancehall twelves which had not seen the light of day for quite a while.  The inevitable few hours locked into the Mac resulted in the New Reggae and Dub Radio Show.

This mix is Part One with Part Two on the way soon.

This mix starts and ends with Smiley’s two best known singles;  the sadly ironic Police Officer, and the Smiley by-name-and-nature Cockney Translation.

Other highlights are the ganja section with Barrington Levy and John Holt in full Greensleeves effect, threatening to burn down the cane fields.

Also included are personal favourites Lorna Gee’s Three Week Gone – a very Thatcher-era story of life under the bad old regime, with a healthy sense of humour – and Eastwood and Saint’s celebration of  the vegi life.

All the tunes come from original 12’s that have seen plenty of life at gigs  many moons ago, hence the somewhat scratchy nature of some of them. I still feel the tunes shine through so left them in.

Stay tuned for Part Two with a host of Greensleeves and Live & Love selections,  including plenty of Frankie Paul.

Spark up & Enjoy . . . !

Fresh from his last album  Music of the Mind, Finn Peters has just released a very limited run 10″ single on his own Mantella label.

It contains two tunes Purple and Yellow –  as deep and intense as ever, mixing loops, synths, brass and spoken vocals.

Purple  holds a great horn line, breaks and floating pads and has elements of hip hop, trip hop and even Dubstep without ever sounding like any specific genre.

Yellow has a more spaced sound, great percussive touches and subtle acidic synth loops. Echoes of Can, indeed.

The press is beautifully  done and the run is limited to only 300 hand numbered copies. Nice heavy vinyl that plays at 33rpm.

Get is while it’s there . . .

There are copies available at Sounds of the Universe

Mantella 0046 - A new release from Finn Peters

You can watch a film of Finn Peters playing at the Montague Arms, New Cross on the  3 Key Sound YouTube site here

On a recent web trawl (while re-watching the excellent Dub Echoes Film by Bruno Natal/Soul Jazz Records) I came across the Mikus Musik Blogspot. To my joy it has a page with streams of old Manasseh and Joey Jay  Kiss FM radio shows, from the days you could still hear heavyweight rockers on the FM band. The site is well worth a visit; check the dub page as well as the Jungle, D&B, soul/funk pages that are all stuffed with mixes. Well worth a visit and a listen.

Gil Scott-Heron 1949 – 2011

Gil Scott-Heron died on the afternoon of May 27, 2011, at St. Luke’s Hospital, New York City, after becoming sick upon returning from a European trip.

Despite Gil’s genius – as a writer, poet and musician – his life was one of struggle; against his past, against prejudice, and for the people on the street whom he always identified with – and spoke out for – in his books and on his records.

A sign of his good heart in the midst of a chaotic personal life was his gig at a down-at-heel music pub in South East London a few years ago.

His manager turned up at the Goldsmith’s Tavern in New Cross with Gil, who was ‘looking for something to get me sorted out’. In those days, it didn’t take long, and in the wait for the deal to be sorted, the manager was talking to the resident soundman at the the time, Bevan B.

After Bevan suggested that Gil could ‘do a spot’ down at the Goldsmiths, Gil looked around, at the punks, students, squatters and ravers, the peeling paint and the low-cloud effect of marijuana smoke hanging over the dancefloor, and declared ‘This is my sort of place !’

He played a blinding gig the next night, and all who were there will remember the genius who took his spirit from his struggle, and could turn it into the most moving, liberating music with a poetry that informed and inspired – a real star who never ‘sold his ass to The Man’.

Although he never reaped the riches from the enormous effect that he had on popular culture, his legacy will be understood, like most great artists, through the long span of history; but his humanity, intelligence, and spirit of resistance will be missed by many around the world . . . .

More information later . . .

Also check out the fiba blog . . . and also an interview with a poet from Liverpool mentored by Gil Scott-Heron, which we pinched from the BBC and uploaded to our music site – so credit to them for the original programme  [on Outlook].

Music from the ice region indeed. The latest reggae show features the mighty Misty in Roots. Kicking off with See Them a Come from Live at the Counter Eurovision perhaps the greatest live album ever; which begs the question why this album is not available in any format today. With even second-hand copies of the CD fetching silly prices surely the time is right for this be given the full heavyweight repress. Lets start a campaign – if only I had a facebook account! The mix also contains the People Unite original twelve inch mix of Poor and Needy and Economical Slavery from the Musi-O-Tunya album.

The Misty selections seemed to set the tone for the rest of this mix that contains a mix of original and repressed tunes from the rootsy end of things.

There are of course the obligatory King Tubby selections from Inna Fine Style’s twisted version of Ronnie Davis and a couple of sides from a recently released box of repressed sevens called Tubby’s Box of Dub – track it down it is a treasure trove of tunes well sorted inna seven inch style.

I was also keen to include the title track from Keith Hudson, originally on the Rasta Communication album in a purely vocal fashion only and now available on a new 12 out of New York featuring previously unavailable dub cuts.

The show ends with the full force original twelve inches of Mikey Dread’s Roots and Culture on Dread at the Controls clocking in at 18 minutes of bass heavy rockers.

So – skin up – enjoy.

LISTEN TO FELT WE FELT THE STRAIN RADIO

Just to let you know that the Trip Team DJ’s 3keybob and Claire have been added to the bill for the Shopping Trolley Promotions night at the Montague Arms on Friday 3rd June.

We will be playing the usual mix of R’nB, soul, ska, reggae, latin and anything else that seems appropriate at the time. We will of course be seeing how long we can get away with playing after midnight. (There is always one more tune you just have to play).

The gig features Polka who will be traveling considerably further than us given they are coming from Berlin. So that bus ride is not so far.

Steve Elwell‘s night is always entertaining and  in the most surreal venue in London, well worth a visit. Bring your dancing shoes !

Flyer and details shown in post below. . .

Spanglish Fly CD cover

A new show posted today on the Soul/Funk page.

It blends funk from San Francisco and latin soul and boogaloo from New York. Two sides one story. From changing guitars to latin beats – it’s all soul really.

The tunes come from vinyl compilations and ends with the sublime Some Lonely Heart by Ronnie Marks. Many thanks to Soul Boy Jim at Sounds of the Universe for turning me on to that (I was only buying a boogaloo compilation at the time!)

Anyway check it out. NEW RADIO SHOW

Stay tuned for a new reggae show soon come!

Check out The Montague Arms, Queens Road, Peckham, the strangest pub on earth

Another interesting line-up from Shopping Trolley Promotions including Pulka, all the way from Berlin on Friday June 3rd 2011. Also playing Drain Cover and Psycho Yogi, with DJ’ing from the fabulous Trip Team.

“… took all my colours – left me only blue…”

Heaven and Earth is John Martyn’s final album. Recorded in his home in Ireland all the tracks were finished it seems some time before his death and now finally released.

For those of us touched by the man and his music he holds a special place, outside the commercial industry of the “music business”. With John it is always personal.

On a first play I was not really sure but with the assistance of some herbal remedy and a bottle of wine I have to say  I am regular listener.

I felt compelled to review this after reading a few reviews on the net, which for me missed the point. This is not I feel meant to be a fully produced release but the last tunes as they went down. The reviews seem to suggest these tracks are not fully edited or arranged I feel losing the point of what is actually here. It is really all about the groove and that is certainly in there, taking ideas and going with them, soulful and gently funky.  Listening to the album as whole I was reminded of why I loved John live so much, the way he could take a vibe and run with it, seeing him up there just with the tune his voice and guitar, the band slipping and sliding around him.

Of course this is not Solid Air or One World but it is not meant to be. Time and life moves on and this is where he was at. If you want those earlier albums they are still all there – you can hear more of those tunes on the radio show at the link below. This is where all that stuff ended up.

There were some comments which  imply his voice is not so strong and his guitar playing is somewhat muted. I have to say if that is a ‘shot’ voice, but it is still connected directly to his soul. The guitar is still there but as always it not always used upfront and straight, (A thing he never liked –  it’s all about feel not flash) and it is the voicings and twists weaving the the sound together  that give the tunes depth as it swerves in and out of the mix, often leaving you guessing if it is a synth or a guitar. He also does the odd bit of rocking out as in Bad Company.

Don’t forget this is the only man on the planet who can actually make Phil Collins sound anything like cool!

The last track Willing to Work (originally the title track) is an eight-minute track noted as a loose jam in the reviews but to these ears is classic JM, big groove, abstract vocals and the use of backing singers with fine Hammondy organ. The tune finishes with John’s dog Gizmo barking along, as John sings, “So willing to work I even bought my dog along” – well it put a smile on my face. Any album that ends like that is OK in my book . . . .

So give it a go, feel the spirit and get in the groove. . . !

John Martyn Obituary and Radio Show

John Martyn Website