Elektro Fiziks

With only a slightly embarrassing delay, here we have my special Homegame mix, entitled "Elektro Fiziks" (for reasons that should be fairly obvious) pristine and ready for you to download:

http://bit.ly/dBkM2U

For the uninitiated, every year at the Homegame Festival some kind soul organises a compilation CD lucky dip, giving everyone a chance to inflict their musical proclivities upon fellow bearded musos. Last year it proved to be a major hit and so it was something very much looked forward to again this year.

I still haven't heard from the lucky (or unfortunate - however you see it) person who picked this mix out of the hat. But it would be a shame, I think, only to inflict it upon only one person, so here it is for all and sundry to get their grubby hands on.

By now it seems almost hardly necessary to point out, having become something of a trademark, but the usual caveats do apply about appalling mixing skills. Maybe someone will teach me, one day...

Adios!

Neon

Look, if I haven't bored you already about how bloody brilliant the new Neon Neon album is then you better brace yourself...

Anyway, in preperation for the inevitable barrage of over-enthusiasm, feast thy ears upon this Pitchfork gem, a mix by Boom Bip, cataloguing the influences behind 'Stainless Style'. Essential stuff.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/download/47233-neon-neon-mixtape-mp3

Crying On The Dancefloor

Credits due to the Venerable Count for pointing me to the latest essential mix from Sally Shapiro mastermind Johan Agebjörn

"Someone I love turned me down,
I didn't feel my head touch the ground,
Someone I love said goodbye,
I never knew someone could make me cry,
Like this"

More info and the download you need is here.

Pigs in Space

Just a quick heads-up regarding the latest Pig Radio podcast mix - it's a Swedish special with none other than Johan Agebjorn and Sally Shapiro at the helm. Worth more than a cursory listen, too.

http://pigradio.com/

or direct download at

http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/pigradiocast/~3/170155212/Johan_Agebjorn_and_Sally_Shapiro-Sackaros.mp3

The Future is a Cassette

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fan of the humble cassette. Even though the CD arrived in my house nearly thriteen years ago, somehow it never quite replaced the magic of the hissy, annoyingly double-sided, snag-and-tangle-able, yet economically feasible, comfortingly tactile fusion of plastic and magnetic tape.

[I have to say that the discovery of my mystical ability to consistently fit the last track of a self-compiled mix-tape snugly in before the end of side B, was a major conributor to my rose-tinted view. Just a shame I never did summon up quite enough courage to give any of them to those girls at school...]

 So anyway, now, some clever Chinese bloke has brought the whole thing up-to-date by combining the durability and retro-chic-ness of the lovable old cassette, with the easy of use, snazziness and modernity of the flash-based mp3 player. This really is the best of both worlds - something you can carry in your pocket with headphones for those personal moments on 'the street' AND pop into your giant 80s ghetto blaster cassette deck for some shoulder-borne tuneage while hanging out beside the local basketball court.

Where do I queue?

http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/cassette-mp3-player-stand-alone-or-car-cassette-player?osCsid=07453efd05f591e60b398d2cfde66bc4/

Yo La La! French Hip Hop podcast

http://www.yolala.org/
In the list of obscure musical genres, French hip-hop has to be by far the most interesting (sorry, Bolivian grind-core fans). This monthly English-language podcast serves as a gentle introduction, kept nice and smooth by the deeply, deeply sinister and sleazy presenter...

File under : "I have no idea what they're saying, but listening to it helps make me feel superior"

MP3 : Johan Agebjoern

I'm not the only one, it seems, to have been utterly bewitched by the lovely Swedish synth-pop princess Sally Shapiro ("
Sounds so fragile and beautiful, you half expect it to melt in your mouth." said The Guardian, "Phwoarrrr!" said a certain DJ Dod).

I'm currently anxiously awaiting the arrival of a lovely package containing a copy of her album and Rude 66-remixed single, but to keep me going until then, I've found this gem : an hour long Italo mix by her producer, Johan Agebjoern. My mental image of him as some sort of lecherous 50-year old Giorgio Moroder look-a-like could be true! All the classics are in there, as well as a couple of the aforementioned Ms. Shapiro's newies. Definitely highly recommended, despite the sleazy German DJ talking over bits of it...

Download the mix here

Sally Shapiro official site

Jamie's Runout Groove

http://jamiesrunoutgroove.blogspot.com/
Indie music blog - doesn't stray from the indie straight-and-narrow too often, but often comes up with the goods nevertheless.

music (for robots)

http://music.for-robots.com/

headphone sex

http://www.headphonesex.co.uk/