Riot Music

One victim of the London riots was PIAS Music Distribution who had a lot of their stock in a warehouse in Eltham which burnt down. Lost in the blaze were releases from such labels as Soul Jazz Records, Fabric, Poker Flat, FourTwenty, and many many more. Blissblog have pointed to suggestions of how to help out these fledgling labels linking to a Quietus Feature on recommended purchases. I'll second them and say buy these:

Various: Invasion of the Mysteron Killer Sounds (SJR) - praised here.

GAS: Nah Und Fern (Kompakt) - absolutely essential classical-ambient-techno collection reviewed for RA here.

Robert Hood: Fabric 39 (Fabric) - Fast and furious Detroit techno.

Various: Forward to the Past (Poker Flat) - cheeky collection of retro Chicago-esque house.

And while it won't help Pias it's a fine time to dig this out:

Invasion of the Mysteron Killer Sounds

I'm rather new to the digital reggae and dancehall thing, although my entrypoint to reggae proper was via the digital techno-dub of Pole, Basic Channel, Kit Clayton and co. There was a big ignorant Bob Marley stigma to overcome, but from there the floodgates opened...

I'm still hesitant with vocals, but after hearing the Honest Jons + Mark and Moritz's Basic Replay comp I was sold on digital production methods, heck, more than - enthralled. My boredom with contemporary house and techno has led me more and more into dubstep realms without ever being quite sold, but these earlier strands of bass heavy digital Jamaican sounds have become very appealing.



The whole package of Soul Jazz Records' Invasion of the Mysteron Killer Sounds is enticing, particularly the focus on hitherto critically disregarded digi riddim tools, as highlighted in the cheesy sci-fi ad emblazoned full page on the back cover of July's The Wire:

Invasion of the Killer Mysteron Sounds brings together the most exciting electronic producers in Jamaica with current sound artists in the UK and beyond who all create music based on revolutionary sounds in 3D – Dancehall, Digital and Dub.

The Wire went on to review it finding it simplistic and lacking in this exposed, unmixed format, but I find the very nakedness what makes it so weird and appealing. The oddball pinball bleeps and clunky computer basslines are thrilling from the get-go with Steely and Clevie's 'Streetsweeper':




Highlight is King Tubby's 'Fat Thing' riddim, much better without the vox.


The contemporary tracks are good, but like contemporary Chicago house remakes lack the historic roughness.


As a taste of what's in store, get Tubby's Fat Thing Version here.

Shamelessly uncritical and promo-heavy this post, but jeez its good. Listen more and buy here.

Rain

We've had a lot of rain over the past few days, so much in fact that our bedroom flooded. Somehow a rock or piece of rubble lodged itself in the drainpipe, causing the gutters to fill and water to seep in through the roof. It also seems our house may be located on a sinkhole, as the front door has significantly shifted and now can't be opened, same with our bedroom door, and walls are looking crooked.

Rain is the finest time to listen to many types of music, and has inspired some fine songs. Here's a favourite, New Orleans' Soul Queen Irma Thomas' "It's Raining". She's in Melbourne this weekend!



Might be best heard in this context, one of the finest scenes in Jim Jarmusch's career filled with them - Roberto Benigni dancing with his real-life partner in the closing moments of Down by Law:



From a similar time and space, the combination here of childish xylophone "raindrop" plinks, tacky throwaway lyrics and all of Orbison's usual pre-Lynchian psychodrama - operatic wail, chorus of angels, strings, sax - make for a distinctly odd and unsettling song. Not one of his more well known tunes but deserving of being more so:



The Ronettes did as countless future wishy-washy pseudo-ambient bedroom producers and incorporated field recordings of rain and thunder in their "Walking in the Rain":



"It's more than woe begotten grey skies now":



Heck, Tom Waits has loads of songs about rain. Here's a promo for his Rain Dogs album:



... and a far from wishy-washy ambient album featuring rain sounds, "Atta" by Icelandic producer Yagya. From his album Rigning, Icelandic for "raining", I first heard him back in 1999 when he made The Rhythm of Snow for Force Inc. Guess he likes wintry weather:



Approaching Youtube overload, but will do another rain post and look solely at rainy ambient, some other time...