Bam

I'm thinking of starting jasonforrestfanclub.blogspot.com

Seriously, I love this man. This is from the most recent Toxic Dancehall party that Mashit played at and looks amazing. The rest of those photos are here and here. The Mashit blog has even more and is rolling along after a bit of silence as well, so check out pictures and stories live as they happen.

From them I also learned that Toxic took over Red Zero Radio on Resonance FM and broadcast their best live sets recorded at the various nights. C, Spectre, Rupture, Soundmurderer, D'Kat, Rotator, on and on. Archives for you to download will be posted soon I suspect, so check back there for sure. Red Zero seems to be establishing itself as the preeminent show and archive of the movement, what with their festival that Ripley, Bong Ra, Shitmat, rupture and others were part of several months ago, now this, and people always telling me about new mixes they're doing for RZR (most recently Mad EP). Oh, headz up, he and Shadow Huntaz are going on tour (did I post this already?) in Europe in November, and are looking for bookings. Check the SH website, it's amazing. (Speaking of amazing websites, TokyoPlastic continues to be mindblowing. Check it out if you haven't gone there in a while.)

And while we're in the land of the rising sun, David Last pointed me to the fact that Rei Harakami has a new album coming out! His first in about 5 years I think. I know about Harakami through his remix of Coldcut he did way back but short of finding his few 12 inches (3 I think) on Sublime in used stores, people outside of Japan don't have much hope of finding the new album I'm told. But be on the look out, cause there's nothing like his work for sparkling, child-like wonder and yet true complexity. It's call Lust, check it out here. No audio, sorry.

What else... great way to spend a puzzling afternoon, or downtime at work ... Hapland and Hapland 2. This had me and a co-worker scratching our heads for a good several hours. (Also, somewhat to my embarrassment, I have to report that I've beaten the first 25 levels straight of N the Ninja game, and most of the others in rounds 30-59. Remember that there's 5 boards a level... looks like there's even a new version out with another 40 levels... sigh)

More fun stuff: I found a great Bmore mix a couple days ago. I did an order from Turntable Lab to get the Radiohead Breaks EP (cause I'm a sucker for the Oxford boys), and went through their site extensively... a poor substitute for being in the store, a truely essential stop for any, yes absolutely any no matter what you spin, DJ from out of town if you make the pilgrimage to the apple. Still though, lots of fun helpful descriptions, lots of back story on all the dancehall 7 inches for example, and stuff you can get there that's nowhere else. Including some baltimore tracks, and right now that in turn includes the Bmore remix of ... Sponge Bob Square Pants. I can't link now cause stupid firewall blocks TTL for some reason (why that site and no others I don't know), but honestly I just can't picture a room full of grown-ups brocking out to Sponge Bob. I'll post the link later, but you can hear it in a proper mix via Tittsworth. Till now I actually didn't have a straight mix of exclusively B-More stuff, just mixes that included it. First 1/2 is Bmore, second is hip-hop. Get it here or stream it here. BTW, double props for the Choose Your Own Adventure opening. I'm totally back in camp circa 7th grade.

Transplant got a mention on Earplug.cc, they shout out the Eats Tapes set! I see a certain someone's hand behind the mention, so props to you sir, perhaps we'll see you at the next one.

Check out this thing, 7Days in Belgium, Ghent I think. It free. It's 7 days long. Enough to make you want to chew your own leg off (if you're American ...).


This is Breakin' Stevens, just two wild and crazy Austrian guys, better known around this blog as the guys who do the Restless parties in Vienna. Their two records are finally out, remixes of things like Rawhide, Hotstuff, Jailhouse Rock, and my personal favorite, Viva Los Vegas. Out to make damn sure all that classy Post-K&D broken beat nonsense doesn't drag down the real soul of Austrians, which is they party like zany maniacs.

Logan5 pointed me at Smoking Gun. Not to be confused with THE Smoking Gun, although that site's awesome too. Just some crazy design and programming stuff, including Sound of Traffic, which turns you information from your web traffic into java midi synthesis and by extension music in real time. Pretty neat, huh? Give it a try.

Two things over at DQ's spot. One is a fun mix by Drop the Lime of Grime stuff that I haven't even fully taken in yet but looks awesome, and one is that Joe Nice himself is coming to NYC for Dub War at Sputnik in Ft. Green. Looks awesome. Worth driving into town for. Good luck! Someone take lots of pictures.

Also on the Grime/Dubstep/Whatnotstep tip, found this guy in Oz, the Southern Steppa. Lots of interviews with key players (including Blackdown. Bloggers interviewing bloggers ...) and sounds and links and a forum as well. Big ups to Kodama. How's the scene catching down there? I know Minikomi's take, but Melbourne and Sydney must be up for sub low...

Gotta shout out Wrecked Distro, who I don't think I've mentioned much before. Cutups has built THE site to get the harder and interesting end of the spectrum, snapping up lots of very small run stuff from around the world. The scarcity of all things 'core in the electronic sense is frustrating on the one hand because you can't walk down to your local shop and buy the new Sonic Belligeranza for example, but the neat thing is how the DIY attitude ties people together. Lots of stuff gets sold out of milkcrates at shows, stuff that's been snapped up by people on tour in Europe or sent to them a couple records at a time. Kabel and Broklyn Beats distro work like that, and there are others in other cities. Then there are the couple of bigger ones like Systemic and Forced Exposure that you can now order directly from, but with all of these you can't listen to much and you have to find musical blurbs elsewhere. Juno is the place to start, but often you have to track down the individual labels site and sift through lots of mp3s. Then note it and go back to the distro page your ordering from and add it to your cart. You can't find everything in one place online, so it takes some serious time and energy to say "I'm gonna put in an order of new weird stuff AND I want to listen to it before I buy it." Fortunately Wrecked makes it easier for you than anyone else, with RA samples of most of the stuff on their site (although it's still a bit slow), and a bigger range of stuff than any other online place. All run out of Pittsburgh PA, and hosted by the good people of rhinoplex.org (NOT WORK SAFE!), which I guess is like the US (Or at least the northeast's) equivalent of Europe's C8, an uber-hosting site for all things along these lines. (Oh look, Droon did their site. It's a small world). So yeah, fully recommended for US patrons, get over there and get listening.

Saw Howl's Moving Castle last night. Awesome. Best yet from Miyazaki. A true work of art.

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Wayne tagged me up with the music dork meme, my 2 cents:

total volume of music files on my computer: Like Wayne actually, 24 Gigs of MP3s. This is what I'm back up to after the theft of a full 40gig Ipod in November. Then probably 100+g on a back up drive at home of mixes and mix sessions in AIFF form.

last CD i bought was: Hellfish - One Man Sonic Attack Force. It's in the mail from Wrecked as I type this. I would have bought it on vinyl if it was available.

song playing right now: B Monkey - Funki Porcini - I've been rediscovering my 96-97 era ninja-tune stuff recently, a lot because it's great to work too but also because it brings me back to calmer, more inquisitive times in my life, senior year of high-school, when music, art and girls were basically my only focus. They still are I suppose, but they were less cluttered by other subjects then. B Monkey and also Herbalizer's Mother have been on repeat a lot recently, making me want to travel somewhere tropical, roll one and lie around in a hammock and listen to the rain.

five songs i listen to a lot these days:
1) Rei Harakami - Lust from the album Lust ... utterly brilliant. See above.
2) Vex'd feat. Search and Destroy - End of Line - I thought Lion VIP was going to be the highlight of the new album, but there's something about a particular keyboard S&D uses that makes me pump my fist every time I hear it and dance like a maniac.
3) DJ/rupture - Redux (the Rotator mix) - Has all the noise and fire and almost maybe power chords with enough substance to sink your teeth into.
4) Buck 65 - Bandits. I'm way into his stuff recently in a way I haven't been about straight hip-hop in a long time. Maybe it's the Tom Waits lover in me.
5) Gold Chains and Sue Cie - California Nites (from When the World Was Our Friend). Possibly it's just because I've been getting to know GC and SC and because I live in California now, but man, this stuff just makes sense and is really fun. I've always like GC, but now this is a whole new twist, lots of Beach Boys and Beck in with the Fannypack and also the whole Context sound that it grew out of. It's really is fun.

next up...
Mad EP
Jimmy Tones
Drumz of the South
David Last

"And now, over to you Emeril..." "BAM!"

Not much else really. Glad Wayne's commnts are back after that nasty round. Doing some writing, and 1/2 a dozen people from out of the Bay Area have said they're coming through in late July through late September and of course I want to do shows for all of them. Don't think that's possible, so logistical tinkering is needed. More info on that as it gets worked out. Still got the gig in LA on the 2nd of July, more info coming, but it's definitely with The Dark Matter Sound System and I think Baseck will be involved. Hoping to meet Mash Up Sound System as well, if you guys see this give me a holler. Then back for what we hope will be a monthly Saturdays at The Elbo Room with folks from the Bangra scene here (flyer below). And still looking for contacts in the Chicago area.