28 October 2023

The Real D(e)al

Long story but a good one because it comes round to one of my favorite guitarists,        Spider from Mars (& so much more) Mick Ronson. Bear with it if only for this lovable bloke's memory. 

 



This story ends in L.A., CA but begins in humble Weston, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (geez, what a mouthfull). By the age of 11, our heroine was playing guitar, writing her own songs, performing at the Mariposa Folk Festival & the Fiddlers' Green.

Lisa Dal Bello, for she is the heroine of this story, lied about her age when she was 13 (which all good heroines do) in order to join a Canadian government-sponsored Educational Music program called Summer Sounds '71 which was for southern Ontario middle /high schools students (something that the other "honest" Lisa was not yet). Lisa was one of 30 young singers, songwriters, musicians, & performers who were chosen to attend a special Music summer camp where the students collaborated on their creations. They formed into music groups / bands. Collectively these groups put together a showcase that performed at various events throughout Ontario.

Dalbello was featured on a record by St. Margaret Mary Church Singers, where she performed covers of two songs : "Blowin' in the Wind" & "Amazing Grace". At the age of 14 she made her 1974 recording debut with a 4-song EP that was recorded for CBC Radio. The EP featured four songs written / composed by Dalbello.

Lisa signed with MCA Records, L.A. when she was 17. The soul/funk/disco 1977 self-titled debut album featured as-yet little known Toto members Mike Porcaro, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, David Paich, & David Hungate. Despite the success of her first album (Juno 1978 Beat New Female Vocalist award), MCA Records wanted out & her next album 1978s Pretty Girls was released independently by Talisman Records.

On the strength of Pretty Girls, Lisa signed with Capitol Records. She released her third album Drastic Measures in 1981, a more pop rock, new wave afair than her previous soul/fuk/disc thing. Dalbello collaborated with Bryan Adams on the album.

 



After Drastic Measures, our by now thoroughly directionally confused heroine needed some time to ponder her true musical direction  Lucky for her that Mick Ronson was working at Phase One Studio in Toronto. Mick met Lisa & convinced her to record another album. The album, 1984s Whōmănfoursāys ("human forces") was co-produced by Dalbello & Ronson. You can hear Ronson's fine touches but its all new Dalbello. 

 

Dalbello - Whōmănfoursāys, Capitol Records, 1984.
decryption codes in comments

Side 1 -
Gonna Get Close to You   
Devious Nature   
She Pretends   
Wait for an Answer   

Side 2 -
Animal
Cardinal Sin   
Guilty by Association   
Path of Least Resistance   
Target (My Eyes are Aimed at You)
 
 
 
 

Gone now is our original heroine. In her place it was just Dalbello from here on out. With Ronson's help we also witness her transformation into an edgy rock artist. She released a follow-up album in 1987 without Ronson on the orders of Capitol Records. Dalbello was not happy with that decision. After the release of  1987s She, Dalbello cut ties with Capitol & relocated to Los Angeles. 
 


In 1991 Ronson & Dalbello began plans to collaborate again. Ronson's worsening health sidetracked the plans. Sadly Mick Ronson died of liver failure in 1993. Dalbello went on to record this album without Mick but his presence is felt throughout.
 
Dalbello - Whore, Spin Records 1995.

Heavy Boots
Easy
Whore
Eleven
Falling Down  
O L'il Boy
Deep Dark Hole
Yippie
All that I Want
Revenge of Sleeping Beauty

R.I.P. Ronno,

26 October 2023

Phishing for Facts

Don't know much about this group / duo other than they formed in Zurich, Switzerland in 2001 with Donovan John Szypura, Aleksandra Mirjana Crossan, & Andre Ledergerber.

 

 

Earthphish converted to a duo of Donovan & Aleksandria shortly after the release of  Soft Green Exit. They released 2EPs, one was Metropolis in 2001 with the original three-piece with Andre still on drums, 2003s SGE, & a self-titled EP as a duo in 2006. Then they were working on music for dance until about 2020 when they released three singles & an album, then a single a year for the past few years.

Here's their earliest full length, to which I've added  a bonus track from 2020 because I am a "Scratch" Man.

Earthphish - Soft Green Exit, Phonogen, 2003.
decryption code in comments

Soft Green Exit
Golden Boy
Complicated
Soulcandy
Papa
Kakhtus Kid
Hiding from Skin
Seedless
Falling Asleep
Birthday Child
Nuclear Star
Cleaning

bonus track -
Deadlock featuring Lee “Scratch” Perry

Enjoy,

23 October 2023

Here’s Lucy!

In the past I ran a series entitled Prompted by Other Blogs

It began September 2022 with the roots rock/Dub outfit Talisman that was prompted by the now defunct but greatly missed blog Holland Tunnel Dive. 

There have been eleven installments so far. 

The last was Deceit by This Heat that was prompted by Zero G Sound blog. Since then, & I don't mean this as a Dis, but I haven't really been prompted by other blogs to post anything since that time. 

 



However, a conversation with blogger AJ from the great Themes from Great Cities on the Doctor Mix & the Remix share prompted this post. 

Thanks AJ. 

 

The Lucy Show - Leonardo Da Vinci / Kill the Beast 7", Shout, 1983.
all decryption codes in comments

Side A -
Leonardo Da Vinci
Side B -
Kill the Beast
 
 
 
 
The Lucy Show - Extended Play 12" 45, Piggy Bank Records ,1984.

Side A -
The Price of Love
Resistance
Side B -
See It Goes
Is It
 
 
 
 
The Lucy Show - Electric Dreams 7", Piggy Bank Records, 1984.

Side A -
Electric Dreams
Side B -
History Part 1
 
 
 
 

Side A -
Ephemeral (This is No Heaven)
The White Space
Side B -
Leonardo Da Vinci (long version)
 
 
 
 
The Lucy Show - Undone 7", A&M Records, 1985.

side one -
Undone
side two -
Dream Days
 
 
 
 
The Lucy Show - Live 7", EP Records EP099, 1986
Side A -
Leonardo Da Vinci (live)
Side B -
Ephemeral (live)
 
 
 
 
The Lucy Show - A Million Things US 12" promo, Big Time, 1987.
Side One -
A Million Things
Side Two -
A Million Things
 
 
 
 
A Side -
Wherever Your Heart Will Go
B Side -
Only Moments Away
 
 
 
 

Enjoy,

20 October 2023

I’ll Give You Statik if I Want To

All that Tricky & Friends made me ramp up these Bristol beats 
 



Statik Sound System's debut came at the height of Trip-hop. It has all the best of the genre with brick-heavy beats & a feather-light female vocalist but the diversity of the band members' past experience in a variety of breakbeat, Dub, & noise acts adds their own unique elements, like the Dub & jazz stylings, or the journey from urban industrialism to outer space. 

 

Statik Sound Syatem - Tempesta, Cup of Tea Records, 1996.
decryption code in comments

Free to Choose, Hard to Be    
Jack
Essential Times    
So Close
Sonar
Amazed by You    
Dr Wheeler
Valentine    
Dreams of Mine    
In Our Own Dub/Jack Laid Bare

Enjoy,

17 October 2023

Tricky Treaty

The previous 4th & B'way post led me to this one. 
 

 

I first became aware of Tricky through the first two Massive Attack releases. After Protection he moved on to a solo career but would return to Massive Attack in 2016.



He released his debut album Maxinquaye in 1995. This also marked the beginning of a long collaboration with vocalist Martina Topley-Bird (here tracks 1-4, 6-9, 11,12). The juxtaposition of Tricky & Topley-Bird's vocals really adds the heat to this disc. 

 

Tricky - Maxinquaye, Island Records, 1995.
all decryption codes in comments

Overcome
Ponderosa
Black Steel
Hell is Around the Corner
Pumpkin
Aftermath
Abbaon Fat Track
Brand New You're Retro
Suffocated Love
You Don't
Strugglin'
Feed Me
 
 
 
 

Tricky next resurfaced as Nearly God. The name supposedly came from an interview where Trick was asked "so how does it feel to be God... well, nearly God.". The reason for the nom de musique was that he was under contract to Island Records but had a rider in his contract that let him release one album a year under a pseudonym. Martina Topley-Bird provides vocals on tracks 2,5,7,11,12 but Björk lends voice to tracks 4,10, Neneh Cherry on track 3, & Alison Moyet on track 6, as well as others.
 
Nearly God - Nearly God, Island Independent, 1996.

Tattoo
Poems (vocals – Martina Topley-Bird)
Together Now (vocals – Neneh Cherry)
Keep Your Mouth Shut (vocals – Björk)
I Be The Prophet (vocals – Martina Topley-Bird)
Make a Change (vocals – Alison Moyet)
Black Coffee (vocals – Martina Topley-Bird)
Bubbles
I Sing for You
Yoga (vocals – Björk)
Judas
Children's Story (vocals – Martina Topley-Bird)
 
 
 
 


Martina launched her own solo career in 2003 with the release of Quixotic. Here she expands her styles from her reconizable Trip-hop to more electronic as well as more rock influenced sounds. Tricky makes a guest appearance on "Ragga".
.
Martina Topley-Bird - Quixotic, Independiente ISOM 34CD, 2003.

Intro
Need One
Anything
Soul Food
Lullaby
Too Tough to Die
Sandpaper Kisses
Ragga
Lying
I Wanna Be There
I Still Feel
Ilya
Stevie's (Day's of a Gun)
 
 
 
 

Martina has released five full lengths since going solo. Her latest is Forever I Wait. It comes after an eleven year gap since her last release, 2010s Some Place Simple, which was basically reimaginings of songs from her first two records. Forever is the first release Martina has self-produced & self-released. It devoloped from diverse periods in her life while she was moving from the UK to the United States & eventually ending up in Spain. It offers up a mix of hope & world-weariness of her life.
 
Martina Topley Bird - Forever I Wait, self-released, 2021.

Pure Heart
Wanted
Hunt
Weasel
Wyman
Love
Game
Free
Collide
Blood
Sand
Rain
 
 
 
 


Tricky's latest has him teaming up with Marta Ziakowska. Marta is a vocalist from Krakow, Poland. She met Tricky in November 2017. For the past six years she's been part of Tricky's crew on tour. The cover version of Jefferson Airplane's "Today" never fails to send shivers down my spine. At just a little over 19 minutes this release left me thrilled but wanting more.

Intro
Today
When It's Going Wrong
Nowhere
Think Of You
Moving Through Water
Swimming Away
Walking
Czarno Czarny

Enjoy,

15 October 2023

4th & Broadway

 
4th & Broadway was a subsidiary of Island Records started in January 1984. 
 

 

Known as Fourth & Broadway in the UK until about 1987, they then switched to the more well-known 4th & B'way logo.

 

In 1995 4th & B'way released the third full-length by Tim Simenon's acid house/big beat Bomb the Bass.

On-U Sound posse Skip McDonald, Doug Wimbish, Keith LeBlanc, Bernard Fowler, & Bim Sherman join the fun along with Sinead O'Connor, Jah Wobble, & a cast of many others this time around. 

 

Bomb the Bass - Clear, 4th & B'way, 1995.
decryption code in comments

Bug Powder Dust   
Sleepyhead   
One to One Religion   
Dark Heart (The Darker Side)   
If You Reach the Border   
Brain Dead   
5ml. Barrel   
Somewhere   
Sandcastles   
Tidal Wave   
Empire

Enjoy,

14 October 2023

Shit & Death

Here's Track 7 from Bukowski in Dub that I've leaked a few tracks of before...

Charles Bukowski - Bukowski in Dub, EP Records EP909.

07 - Shit & Death

Enjoy,

12 October 2023

Eyes A’fire in the Pitch Black Universe

 

Pitch Black is a New Zealand electronica duo from Auckland started in 1996, made up of Mike Hodgson & Paddy Free.

Their 1998 debut album Futureproof climbed to the top of the New Zealand electronic charts because of its sheer greatness, with no major label support, marketing, or advertising.  Futureproof was followed by a remix album, Dub Obscura (1999). 

Here is the Dubmission Records reissue with both releases (here as Black Disc/Futureproof & White Disc/Dub Obscura).

Pitch Black - Futureproof 2xCD reissue, Dubmission Records CDDUBM006, 2008.
all decryption codes in comments


Black Disk -
The Gatherer
Speech
They are Among Us (Pitch Black remix)
Soliton
Melt
The Gatherer (live)
Altered State
Alternate State

White Disk -
Soliton (Live at Heaven Pitch Black remix)
Speech (Epsilon Blue's Freedom of Speech remix)
Melt (Youth remix)
Speech (International Observer remix)
Soliton (Submariner remix)
Speech (Epsilon Blue's Speechless remix)

 

 

 

 

Their second set began with Electronomicon in September 2000. 

 

Pitch Black - Electronomicon, Kog Transmissions KOGCD1018, 2000.


Reptile Room
Electric Earth Pt1
Electric Earth Pt2
Data Diviner
Urbanoia
The 48 Skanks
Unadrumma

 

 

 

 

This was followed the next year by a remix album Electric Earth & Other Elements: Remixes featuring mixes by local Aussie bands International Observer, Epsilon-Blue, Downtown Brown, & others.

Pitch Black - Electric Earth & Other Elements, Kog Transmissions KOG1023, 2001

Electric Earth (video edit)
Lizard Room (Ekto Rhythm mix)
Electric Earth (Part 3 Pylonz remix)
Unadrumma (Downtown Brown Sunshine Sound System remix)
Electric Earth (Part 5 Rotor Plus Smll Hnds rmx)
Soliton (live at Heaven)
The 48 Skanks (Rockwood 48 Jars of Plum Sauce remix)
Electric Earth (Part 6 Cuffy & Leon D remix)
Electric Earth (Part 4 Rook remix)
The 48 Skanks (Rockwood 4 to 7 Odds on the Sheffield Derby mix)
 
 
 
 

Their third album Ape to Angel was released in New Zealand in October 2004.
 
Pitch Black - Ape to Angel, Dubmission Records PB06?, 2004.

Ape to Angel
Freefall
Lost in Translation
Big Trouble Upstairs
Flex
Elements Turn
The Random Smiler (live)
Empty Spaces Missing Units
 
 
 
 

There are two remixes. One was in 2005 named Halfway: Between Ape & Angel,  released on Pitch Black's own label Remote Recordings in New Zealand & Australia.
 
Pitch Black - Halfway: Between Ape & Angel, Remote Recordings remote001, 2005.

Ape to Angel (Bluetech's Evolution mix)
The Random Smiler (OG remix)
Freefall (Fiord remix)
Big Trouble Upstairs (Max & Bluey remix)
Freefall (Friend Electric remix)
Flex (Peak Shift's Non Weight Bearer remix)
Elements Turn (Switch + pZ remix)
Freefall (Ithz remix)
Elements Turn (Agent Alvin remix)
Empty Spaces Missing Units (Module's Happy Machine remix)
Freefall (Alucidnation's Lucid Dream remix)
 
 
 
 

The other was released in 2006 by Dubmission Records as Frequencies Fall in Europe & America. There were slight differences in the track selections & playing order.
 
Pitch Black - Frequencies Fall, Dubmission CDDUBM005, 2006.

Lost in Translation (International Observer meets Horace remix)
Freefall (Friends Electric remix)
Elements Turn (Switch + pZ remix)
Freefall (Funk'n'SloCuts & Minuit remix)
Flex (Son.sine's re-rub)
Big Trouble Upstairs (Hummel's Under the Stairs mix)
Freefall (Ed Page & Isaac Tucker Ithz Derived remix)
The Random Smiler (DJ Flix vs. Red Star remix)
Lost in Translation (Youth's Pirates of Dub mix)
Empty Spaces Missing Units (Module's Happy Machine remix)
Ape to Angel (Bluetech's Evolution mix)
Flex (Peak Shift's Non Weight Bearer mix)
Freefall (Alucidnation's Full Speed Version)
 
 
 
 

Are you seeing a pattern here? This is one of the things that has drawn me to this band time after time, release after release. The originals are fantastic & the remixes elevate that perfection to an even higher level.

Next came Rude Mechanicals  in 2007...
 
Pitch Black - Rude Mechanicals, Remote Recordings remote002, 2007.

South of the Line
Rude Mechanicals featuring KP
Bird Soul
Sonic Colonic (live at Minikami)
Fragile Ladders
Harmonia
1000 Mile Drift featuring Brother J
Transient Transmission (Fig 2)
Please Leave Quietly featuring Tracy Z
 
 
 
 

Followed by Rhythm & Sound & Movement: Rude Mechanicals Remixes in 2009...

1000 Mile Drift (International Observer remix)
Transient Transmissions (Deep Fried Dub's Battered mix)
Rude Mechanicals (Mistrust's Ambiotik mix)
Bird Soul (Fold vs Horace remix)
Bird Soul (Subtone's Funky, Hard, & Atmospheric Drum 'n' Bass mix)
Sonic Colonic (Patch's Reconstruction mix)
South of the Line (Bluetech's Electroid Excursion)
Harmonia (Neon Stereo's Lost in a Cave mix)
Please Leave Quietly (Johnny Hooves remix)
Bird Soul (Kerretta Ornithomancy mix)
1000 Mile Drift (Simon Flower's Lost at Sea mix)
Harmonia (Rob Crowdy's Light remix)
Fragile Ladders (Groove Yantra's Eclectic Psychedelic Dub)
Please Leave Quietly (Friends Electric remix)
 
 
 
 

These two were in heavy rotation around my place until 2011 when, breaking the pattern, Pitch Black released Rarities + Remixes, a collection of their remixes of other artists plus three original (rarities) tracks.
 
Pitch Black - Rarities & Remixes, Dubmission Records CDDUBM028, 2011.

Te Po (Pitch Black remix) - Hirini Melbourne & Richard Nunns
Kaikoura Dub (original demo) - Pitch Black
House of the Rising Dub (Pitch Black remix) - International Observer
For the Love of It (Pitch Black Version) – Salmonella Dub
The Opaque (Pitch Black remix) - Tom Cosm
Sensimillia (Pitch Black's Sensi Dub) - Katchafire
I'm a Wanderer - Pitch Black
Mirror Beach (Pitch Black's Iron Sands re-rub) - Mirror System
A New Day (Pitch Black remix) - Laya Project
Protect the Grain - Pitch Black
Past Present Future (Pitch Black's Sleep Whisperer mix) - Tiki
 
 
 
 

Pitch Black combines modern electronics, downtempo, & Dub in such a way that the psychedelic experience is aetherial. This is truly spiritual music, as it reaches into the spirit & sends it spiralling into the ionosphere & beyond.

Their fifth pairing of  Filtered Senses in 2016... 
 
Pitch Black - Filtered Senses, Dubmission Records CDDUBM063, 2016.

Filtered Senses
Circuit Bent
Invisible Chatter
Dub Smoke
A Great Silence is Spreading
It’s the Future Knocking
Without the Trees
Pixel Dust
 
 
 
 

& the remix collection Invisible Circuits in 2017... 
 
Pitch Black - Invisible Circuits, Dubmission CDDUBM069, 2017.

It's the Future Knocking (International Observer's No Smoking Dub)
Invisible Chatter (Kaminanda remix)
Circuit Bent (Radioactive Man remix)
Filtered Senses (Beam Up remix)
Pixel Dust (DJ Crises remix)
A Great Silence is Spreading (peak_shift remix)
Without the Trees (Tom Cosm's Twitch Itch remix)
Dub Smoke (Tripswitch remix)
Invisible Chatter (Digital Playground remix)
It's the Future Knocking (Alpha Steppa remix) 
 
 
 
 

Now what led to this mega-post was actually my love of all things On-U combined with my deepest respect for Pitch Black. This is when Uncle Fester came rolling in tripping balls & upping the game another notch.


Uncle Fester on Acid is none other than Pats Dokter from Sittard, Netherlands. Since 2013 he has been the head archivist at On-U Sound. Among many other things he is responsible for African Head Charge’s Churchical Chant of the Iyabinghi which features alternate mixes & dubs from AHC 1990 -1993 that Pats carefully transferred from the original master tapes. On the following Pitch Black (& Mike Hodgson’s Misled Convoy) intrusions, Pats has expanded outward from On-U into a multiverse of other Sounds.

In 2019, Dubmission released the Uncle's deconstruction & re-conception of Pitch Black's album Filtered Senses entitled No Sense Unfiltered. This was the first installment of Uncle Fester's Aural Assault Astronaut series. This series is dedicated to remixing not just a track but whole albums. Pats' mixture of heavy industrialized beats, deep basslines, & multilayered swirling effects add a whole new dimension to a truly unique mix of downtempo, Dub, electronica, ambience, & noise.
 
Dubmission Records CDDUBM087, 2019.

No Sense Unfiltered
Invisbly Shattered
Treetop Temple
Passive Clown
Bending Circuitry
Spreading Noises
Stop
Alien Kiwi Sheep Liberation Soundtrack
 
 
 
 
In the 2nd instalment of his Aural Assault Astronaut series, Fester has mutilated Misled Convoy's Sixteen Sunsets album. 

 
 
Misled Convoy is a side project of Michael Hodgson of Pitch Black. Here he is back with Sixteen Sunsets that contains a multitude of "found" sounds Mike gathered as he traveled the world. These sounds were recorded in Iceland, Sweden, Turkey, Italy, Croatia, Spain, Greece, England, & Austria: the cicadas of a Greek island; the automated voice of a Stockholm bus;  rubber on cobblestones at a Roman roundabout; the unusual chug of a narrowboat on a London canal are then drenched in effects & augmented by Hodgson’s signature Dub & Bass, woven together into delicately sophisticated pastiches, layered with beats & melodies. 
 
Misled Convoy - Sixteen Sunsets, Dubmission Records CDDUBM081, 2018.

Blind Light
Sixteen Sunsets
Not this Route
Another Time
I am Full of 40 Thousand Holes
Poles Apart
Trembling of the Trees
The Mind has a Place Full of Strange Paths
Subject to Chance
 
 
 
 

Meanwhile Uncle Fester has turned those sunsets into something that is way beyond the concept of remix & Dub. Brace yourself for a psychedelic frequency feast where nothing is at seems, everything has it's place, there's a place for everything...& believe me, Nothin' sez anything can happen.

Bonus track from Uncle Fester's On-U Sound mate Adrian...
 
Misled Convoy X Uncle Fester on Acid - Twilight 32, Dubmission Records CDDUBM099, 2020.

Intro
Another Place, Another Time, Another Dimension
Changing the Subchance
Visible Darkness
Opposite Poles Interact
Dawnstar 17.3
Simplifying Mindpaths
Drilling Numerous Holes
Trevor's Path

bonus track -
Sixteen Sunsets (Adrian Sherwood's Enter the Void of Sound Delerium mix)

Enjoy the Dubmission,

10 October 2023

The Root of All Goodness

I can't believe it's been since August 1, 2008 that I posted 
Root Boy Slim, the Lenny Bruce of Boogie. 
At that time I shared his debut platter,  




Foster MacKenzie III was larger than life. He deserves more attention.

Here's his follow-up album with the Sex Change Band. 

The band consisted of:  Ernie "Sex Ray" Lancaster - guitar; Walt  "Cosmo Creek" Andrews - steel guitar; Winston Kelly - Hammond B-3 organ & keyboards; Ron Holloway - tenor saxophone; Marshall Keys - alto saxophone; Bob "Rattlesnake Rattles" Greenlee - bass; Tommy Ruger &  Albert "Kung Fu Shorty" Bashor - drums. The Rootettes were: Cherie Grasso; Marina "Mikki" Lee Jonne;  Kathe "Special K" Russell - background vocals with Dick Bangham - background vocals & trombone. 

 

Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band with the Rootettes - Zoom, I.R.S. Records SP 006, 1979. decryption codes in comments


Side A -
World War III
Do the Gator   
The Loneliest Room in the World   
Quarter Movie on My Mind   
Sugar Daddy   
Ignite It

Side B -
She Wants to Move In   
Dare to Be Fat   
Motel of Love   
Dozin' & Droolin'   
Express Train

 

 

 

 



Here is his his last ever solo release with tthe classic "I Fell Down"... 

 

Root Boy Slim - Don't Let This Happen to You, King Snake Records KS 0001, 1986.

Side 1 -
When You Date the Undead   
Rich, White, & Republican   
Health Spa Lady   
Kinky U.   
Computer Lover   

Side 2 -
They Don't Sing on the Corner   
I Fell Down   
It's Only Murder   
House Band in Hell   
Evolution

Boogie on,