#30 - The Mix That Never Was

A NEW DJ MIX FOR YOUR LISTENING PLEASURE

Well well well.  Mr Philip Wellington is thirty years old, who’d have funked it.

Whilst said celebrations happened a slice over a month ago, it is not too late to rejoice.

THE STORY OF CREATION

Shall I tell you the story behind it’s creation?  Its not a long one.  I obviously attended the Wellington 30 party at the bottom of The Globe in Brighton – and a fun night was had.  I was rather drunk.  I also had taken a selection of records, both of my own pleasing and of a philesque persuasion. For all intentions, I was certainly going to play them heartily on the night.  However, circumstances conspired.  I dillied and I dallied – other DJ’s came and went and before I knew it, the night was coming to an abrubt end with door stuff shuffling us begrudgingly out the doors.  Hence, my 30th birthday set never was.

A couple of weeks ago, I was just getting round to putting my records back on their selves and thought – NO, why not play the records and re-create the set that could have been.  Record it, do a funny cover and pass it to Phil as a belated item of birthday gratitude.

LET ME TAKE YOU ON A MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH TIME & SPACE!

Hence, the mix that never was…well, was,  is – in fact here it is:

I trust you will enjoy – it will take you on a 2 hour musical journey through 30 records and many genres.  The file is downloadable through Soundcloud at www.soundcloud.com/asomatous/30-the-mix-that-never-was

OR – as a special treat, , you can download a high quality mp3 along with the artwork in a handy zip file. Simply enter the code: OWMEA in the box below to enable the file to be downloaded…once you enter the code, this page will re-load and there will be a new link to download the file (note – its about 160MB big!):

If your interesting in the tracklisting, behold…

#30 - The Mix That Never Was Tracklisting

Hello pop pickers.  A little late on the uptake of uploading a few images from this night, but better late than never hey?

The lovely lit back room bar at Concorde II

A couple of weeks back, on Thursday 18th February 2010 to be precise – the musical movers and shakers of Brighton united, to put on a fund raiser at the Concorde 2, Brighton,  in aid of the Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

It has to be said – this is one of the best gigs I have been to in ages.  I went a triffle unsure as to whether it would be one of those wishy washy something yet nothing nights, put on by some people without much direction or experience.  However – the nothing could be further from the truth – the night was well programmed, diverse, interesting, unique and above all – had an awesome carnival like atmosphere!  Never has fund raising been so much fun!

WHERE IS MY FREE MUSIC – TAKE ME TO SEE THE REVERSE ENGINEER

The Reverse Engineer spinning some dub. I like dub.

I promised you free music – so lets take a brief side step so those of the more gready readers amongst you can sink your teeth into the good stuff!  One of the reasons I knew about this night was because musician and Our World My Eye regular – The Reverse Engineer was one of the DJ’s on the billing (spinning a fine collection of Latin, Dub and Afro-beat).  As it happens, this young pup is also my brother – hence the connection runs deep!
Anyway, The Reverse Engineer has just released his latest album, which can be purchased for the bargain sum of five English pounds.  However, if you are too tight for that and would prefer to sample some of his musical creations for free, prior to committing to buy – then there is hours of free music to download on the website as well.
PLUS – he also runs a music blog.  What more can you ask for from one place? 
For all the lowdown and to get your free music – just visit:

www.thereverseengineer.co.uk

TELL ME ABOUT YOUR HIGHLIGHTS

OK, if I must…my two highlights of the night were as follows:

1) John Soliman – one of the great things about the gig was the extra curricular activity going on, including a wandering magician going by the name of John Soliman.  When he first rocked up, I was a bit sceptical that he would be a bit naff and the tricks dull (as can sometimes be the way with magicians), but as it turned out – not only was he a very charismatic entertainer, but a great magician as well.  Sadly, I was too gob smacked at his card handling skills to think of taking a photograph, but check out his website for more info: www.solimagic.com

Nhasitifara front man's amazing head dress!

2) Nhasitafara – they were the band of the night for me, absolutely awesome.  Fronted by Papa Linos, a noted Mbira player, the group punch out music that in there words is a”fuse the sounds of traditional Zimbabwean mbira music with the powerful brass and vocal sounds of afro-beat and funk. Their influences range from Fela Kuti, Bob Marley,Thomas Mapfumo, Tony Allen and Burning Spear.”

Ultimately, not much can be said – they have to be seen and heard.  I had seen Papa Linos around and about in Brighton many times, playing the Mbira in the street and never expected him to have such energy and passion as a front man to this group.  Amazing – I urge you to check them out and see them if you get a chance…you won’t be disappointed!  More info at their site www.nhasitafara.com

The night brought out all the stars!

OH WHAT A NIGHT

Generally, it was a great night – and from what I hear, raised a good few thousand for Haiti.  Huge props to the organisers for such a great night and I sincerely cross my fingers that they make this a regular event!  Brighton is crying out for a regular night like this!!!

Incidentally, the man pictured with the star on his head makes some rather pleasant T-shirts under the guise of Knofler – check them out at http://www.knofler.co.uk/

DIGITAL LOW LIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

The Ceiling of the Concorde II with interesting colours!

Before I go – a quick word about low light digital Photography!  I generally don’t take my camera to gigs as I prefer to enjoy the night and not document it.  But thought it might be fun for this night, and it was one of the first times I have done really low light stuff with my digital Nikon D80.  I have done heaps of night photography on film, so was interested to see how a digital sensor would handle things.  My conclusion – I need to do some research!  Not quite sure how reciprocity failure fully relates to digital and obviously noise is a bit of an issue in these images.  But – quite impressed with the results given I wasn’t using a tripod and essentially just taking snap shots.

Watch this space – might take the D80 out on a night time sortie and see what happens!

CHRISTMAS WIND-DOWN (2009)

Greetings, greetings, greetings.

I hope everyone in web land is feeling fine and full of beans for the new year ahead.

I trust a pleasant Christmas and New Years Eve were celebrated by all?

Fun, frivolity, food?

Socialising, sleeping, snowing?

I had a good time (thanks for asking) – but not feeling too rested as generally did too much.

Wanted to get the blog-ball rolling for the new year and thought I would present you, for your aural listening pleasure, a nice mix to bring yourselves down from the excitement of the past few weeks.  Does that sound nice?

SPANKING NEW SHINEY LOVELY TECHNICS 1210′s MK ii

Thats correct – after being in the dark place for about a year and having no decks, that problem has now been rectified with a lovely pair bought on ebay.  Finally I was reunited with my records and celebrated shortly before New Year by playing a selection of fine tunes.

That selection has been uploaded to the lovely people at Soundcloud and is available from there or from below for you to enjoy.

I do not proclaim to be a technical genius – I do not claim to mix – but a fine selection of music I can guarantee.

You can listen to the mix or download it from here: http://soundcloud.com/asomatous/john-house-christmas-wind-down-mix-2009

The tracklisting is below.  Enjoy.

1) Jingle Bells – Frank Sinatra
2) Yardbird Suite – Charlie Parker & Miles Davis
3) Muskrat Ramble – Louis Armstrong
4) Michel Legrand – Southern Routes
5) What’s My Name? – Hot 8 Brass Band
6) White Room – Cream
7) Cry, Cry, Cry – Roxy Music
8 ) Star Wars Theme – Cantina Band
9) Lowdown Popcorn – James Brown
10) Funky Nassau (pt 2) – The Beginning of the End
11) Bam Bam – Sister Nancy
12) Dub Be Good To Me – Beats International
13) Blame it on the Boogie – The Jacksons
14) Leaving – Diverse
15) Status – Mr Lif
16) Ring My Bell – Anita Ward
17) No Surprises – Easy Star All Stars
18) Up Town Top Ranking – Althia & Donna
19) I Chase The Devil – Max Romeo
20) Victory Dub – Tenor Saw
21) Jah Dread – Augustus Pablo
22) Music Dub – Horace Andy
23) Gold & Silver – Toots & The Maytals
24) Fire In The Vatican – Max Romeo