The Dirtbombs.

Ever since my old boss at Soundstation introduced me to this band I've been listening to them very regularly and they are still some of my favourite rock albums, almost 10 years later. Mick Collins is a bit of a legend as far as Detroit rock goes and you may also wanna check out some of his other projects, he's done about 50.000.000 of them. Dirtbombs is definitely the band I like best, though, especially the second and third studio albums: "Ultraglide in Black" and "Dangerous Magical Noise".

Ultraglide is all covers of old rock and soul songs (Stevie Wonder, Thin Lizzy) played in the typically shambolic Dirtbombs style. How do they actually sound? Really bad, actually. None of them are particularly good at their instruments, but the thing that shines through is their WILL to play this stuff, no matter what. They really love what they're doing and that's an extremely contagious quality. Stevie Wonders' "Livin' for the City" constantly sounds like it's completely falling apart, covered in fuzz and nobody seems to be hitting any of their notes anywhere NEAR clean, but the enthusiasm and soul they put into it is awesome. That's basically how every song on the album is, although the band actually do have quite a wide range of expression, from slow and grinding to fast and choppy. Not a dull song on the whole album.

Magical Noise is mostly songs penned by Mick and is absolutely stunning. The band is slightly tighter, but still loud and abrasive, the production is slightly cleaner, but still with massive amounts of fuzz and the quality of the songs is really, really good. Mick sings his heart out on "F.I.D.O.", "Stuck in thee Garage" is some of the most distorted, screechy rock ever and "I'm Through with White Girls" is straight up sleaze. Essential purchase.

I found some live vids on youtube, but the sound quality is even worse than on record, but it should give you an idea.

"Stop" from "Dangerous Magical Noise":

"Underdog" from "UltraGlide in Black":

Notice that the live band has 2 drummers and 2 bass players, just to give it that little bit extra.

And finally a cute little interview, enjoy!

OMFG!!!

Put a wonk on it.

It all started out as a good idea. "Get a blog!", I thought. "No more copy/paste and no repetitions!" gave me a warm feeling inside and starting the blog gave me that glow only pregnant women and PCP addicts radiate. But home is where the hatred is, so the feelings of joy and hippiedom were rather shortlived and several friends immediately pointed out that the whole thing felt a bit fake without any REAL emotion.

Cut. Chase. Action.

For a while now, some people have been using the term "Wonky" to describe certain areas of popular music. In itself, this poses no real threat to me and I could just ignore the fact that people I like or respect are using this word to pigeonhole parts of music I love. Luckily, I'm not that kind of guy.

"Wonky", according to inventor Martin Clark, is a theme, NOT a genre. I really like his writing and music and respect him an' all, but why oh why does he have to invent this stuff? What's the point? Basically, as far as I can see, "Wonky" means: dance music with big midrange/treble synth leads. The few people that use the term usually do so in conjunction with artist names like Joker, Rustie, Zomby, Flying Lotus, a bunch of 8-bit people and apparently the Skweee man dem. Even though these people have probably heard of each other and some of them actually work together, They have very little in common, except for the use of big, trebly synth leads over dance beats that involve BOTH bass AND beats. Historically this has obviously been done a million times before. Think Dr. Dre.: "The Chronic" or just go straight to one of many sources: George Clinton. But apparently, Clinton and Dre are not "Wonky". Wonkieness can only be achieved at the end of the 00's and again only by the artists mentioned above. Since Blackdown invented the term, I have very rarely seen additions to this "theme". In fact, only some of the Skweee people have been lumped in and I'm sort of guessing that is mostly so that they have more adjectives to think about. Basically, "Wonky" is an adjective, just like "hard", "funky" and other words you don't want to put in front of "house". This sort of brings us to the whole point: There is none. Wonky is just a very crappy way of describing very little. At least when you say "hard", people are gonna guess that you mean something with some banging drums or harsh synths. When you say "wonky", people who haven't read Mr. Clark should walk away from your conversation and the ones that have read it should just slap you 'til you promise never to do it again, wonker.

Next issue on The Agenda Of Hate: Donk.

Donk recently rose to fame through the pages of Vice magazine. When I first saw the article and accompanying documentary, I was convinced that this was some elaborate and very well-made spoof. It took several re-readings, google searches and youtubeings before I even began to grasp the horror. I'm actually still waiting/hoping for someone to expose this hoax. It would make this world a better place.

Since I first heard it, I've been consumed by an extreme amount of hate. So much so, that I began questioning my own emotions and gut reactions. Why do I hate this SO much? It's just a bunch of no-future-having, steroid-taking, bad-music-taste-having kids? What have they done to me? Answer: They invented the word "Donk" and plastered it across even more crappy euro dance. As if that wasn't enough, they also rap/MC over the top of it.

On paper it all looks good: pissed off lower class youth, electronic dance music, rap = usually the start of new and vibrant genres (think hiphop, grime, jungle, etc.). Not the case. This is just pure crap.

Unfortunately, a lot of people I know and usually respect, seem to think that this is the next big thing or just some harmless fun. I tell these people that they are wrong and that they should stop worshipping false gods before the Lord Almighty smites them with AIDS.

The absolutely worst thing is that the main song of the genre, Blackout Crews "Put A Donk On It" is so infectious and downright fucking stupid, that a part of me cannot help but like it. A very small part of my heart that is probably a tumor waiting to happen. BUT I don't like it in a musical way, for this is not music. More in the way that I love watching Bud Spencer slap somebody on the top of their head so they sink 20 cm in to the sand. Yes, I feel guilty after giggling.

So there you have it. I absolutely hate the term "Wonky" to describe music and "Donk" just isn't an option. This post doesn't make that much sense, but that's the beauty of hate, it doesn't have to make sense. In fact, it's an emotion, so you just have to feel it. Next stop: Iceland.

EDIT: More fuel for my fire. Wonky should be thrown down a flight of stairs.

Dagens twack og video!

Grime og dubstep er åbenbart for alvor ved at finde sammen igen og her er endnu et grime track med seriøs bas fra én af de producere der er bedst til at fusionere de 2: Cotti.

Tak til JSL for tippet.

Fugzi Malone: Stand Out

Videoen mindede mig også meget om min tid i London. De dér broer og trapper med hegn over/omkring ser man ofte, især i de sociale boligbyggerier. Hvad er hegnene til for? Så folk ikke kaster hinanden eller sig selv over kanten? Graffittien er det mest menneskelige ved de konstruktioner. Der findes også enkelte eksempler på den slags byggeri her i DK, men på ingen måde i så stor stil som derovre og, endnu ikke, med helt de samme konsekvenser. Godt vi har DF så der snarest kan gøres noget ved vores indtil videre relativt fredelige indvandrerbefolkning. Kunne DF gå hen og være en direkte grund til mere Gangsta og Grime i DK? Ville det være godt? Discuss!

English?

I could be seduced in to writing all this in english, if anybody is interested.

Feedback, please!

Goddaw.

Her vil jeg så skrive, poste og linke til en masse ting der interesserer mig, nok mest musik. Jeg har i et godt stykke tid gået og syslet med tanken, da jeg altid har været en af de folk som vennerne har spurgt om det nyeste musik, osv. De sidste mange år har jeg så skrevet mails, sendt pb'er, chattet og på anden vis viderebragt alt mulig information, ofte ved at gentage migselv utallige gange. Dette er jeg simpelthen for doven til, så nu tror jeg bare at jeg fremover henviser hertil.

Nå, videre til musikken. Som de fleste af jer nok ved, lytter jeg til en hel del dubstep og har gjort det i mange år. Det viser sig nu at dette har båret frugt og hovedstaden oversvømmes af bastunge arrangementer for tiden. Wobble Squad og DJ Reveal fylder mest i horisonten og sidstnævnte starter en klub op i Rusts kælder hver anden fredag. Første gang bliver 10/4/09 med Dansk Dubstep Design Drengene og Egern fra Firehouse som MC. Egern imponerede mig forresten glimrende til OHOI! og Unity Soundsytem i skateparken i sommers. Jeg saluterer den nye klub og der er vel chancer for at man ses dernede.

Facebook linkage.

Rust natklub.

Wobblefolket holder fest den 03/04 på Støberiet ved Blågårds Plads og det kunne godt se ud som om Ras Money fra Rootsman Hi-Fi skal spille et vaskeægte dubstepset den aften. Jeg ved han har pladerne til det, og det er de GODE plader. Wobble Squad har også været flinke til at promovere dem selv med mix de har lagt ud gratis rundt omkring. Jeg fandt dem inde på hifly.dk's mixforum.

Mere Facebook.

Ellers lurer OHOI!'s Rum 'n'  Bass IX (har der virkelig allerede været så mange?) lige rundt om hjørnet den 08/04/09 med DJ Marky fra Brasilien som hovednavn i den store sal og både Wobble Squad, Reveal OG 2000F i Stengades lille kælder. Det kan kun blive sjovt!

Info + meget andet her, check især mixsektionen.

Sidst, men faktisk størst, kommer ingen andre end selveste Benga og spiller på Vega den 23/05/09 med OHOI! som support. Jeg har fulgt denne mand i mange år nu, og han er stadig en af mine yndlingsproducere inden for genren. Har hørt ham som DJ en enkelt gang på DMZ og nogle enkelte mix hist og her og selv om han måske ikke kan måle sig med f.eks. Hatcha, så er han ganske habil. Glæder mig sygt meget. Check Vega og OHOI!'s hjemmesider for mere info.

Fintfint, hører jeg jer fnyse, men hvor bli'r musikken af?

Skream er gået helt amok på det sidste og smider om sig med gratis tracks. Det første og, i mine øjne, bedste er Laroux: In for the Kill (Skreams Let's Get Ravey Remix)

De to andre kan findes i denne tråd.

Velkommen til!

EDIT: Første indlæg og straks bli'r man gjort opmærksom på sine fejl og mangler. Tak Mads!

Syg Lyd holder også lige noget med noget dubstep den 04/04/09 hvor de liiige har hevet Caspa og MC Crazy D. Crazy D kommer her i KBH for nu vel 4. gang, så han kender efterhånden den danske crowd og er altid en fornøjelse at se på en scene. DubstepMC nummer 1! Caspa plejer at være lidt for meget hårdt wobblestål og for lidt andet til mig, men det er det de unge vil ha' for tiden, og det skal være dem vel ondt.  2000F vil sikkert rette lidt op på balancen og JSL vil føle sig helt på plads i det lineup. Den skal jo bare wobbles op fra slap!

Det eneste jeg desværre har kunnet finde om festen og stedet er mere Facebook og sparsom Myspace.

Rump Recordings supplerer lige op med bl.a. Zomby den 10/04/09. Zomby er mest kendt for at ha' været med i fronten af dubstep de sidste år, men har, ifølge mig, også en kedelig side hvor han prøver at lave halvdårlig engelsk rave fra start 90'erne, Det skal han lade være med og jeg gætter også mest på at han holder sig til det første den aften. Ellers er resten af aftenen mest dedikeret den, om muligt, endnu mere nørdede Skweee genre og Rumpdrengene står altid for en hyggelig fest med interessant og god musik. Check!

Mere info på deres hjemmeside, Culture Box og Hifly.

Godt, nu kan der fan'me ikke klemmes flere dubstepfester ind det næste stykke tid, med mindre der er nogen der lige finder en kælder til Below.