Sad news, as I was heading over to The Dreadnoughts' blog with a vague half-baked idea to book them next time they toured in the UK, I found out that for now at least, they're calling it a day... I'm now actually kicking myself for not going to see them when they came to Bristol earlier this year.

They were, thanks to their 2010 album Polka's Not Dead, my top 'band' band of the last ten years, hands down (I've covered them here before). That album after hundreds of listens keeps on giving, I can't recommend it enough. Their EP released earlier this year, Uncle Touchy Goes to College, doesn't quite reach the same heights as an overall body of work but still is light years ahead of any other punk I'm aware of with it's unique folk-punk-sea-shanty blend. They're just able to conjure up an atmosphere in a way that no other punk band achieves.

As a parting gift they left this comedy west country track: The Dreadnoughts - Wurple Diddle I Do

I've been following the #dalefarm hashtag on Twitter quite closely this week (be prepared for actually shocking levels of racism and hatred, as well as a certain amount of sensible discussion, if you click the link) and it seemed appropriate to post this up... I've always thought the choice of words in this song is amazing, "you'd better get born in someplace else", gets at the fundamental level at which people's lives are fucked with when they're just trying to get on with them, but they don't happen to fit the mould.

Starting with the original, or at least a recording by the guy who wrote it: Ewan MacColl- Movin on song
My favourite version, Christy Moore is a legend Christy Moore - Go Move Shift
London anarcho-punks take on it Inner Terrestrials - Movin on song
and my own totally apolitical version from a few years back, sampling Christy Girl Robot - Go Move Shift

From Leeds, Mila Dores brings us something pretty incredible right here:

Canção da Ceifa/ Harvest by MilaDores

Man I've been neglecting my blogging duties over the festive period... (but remember you can always check me every Wednesday on Generation Bass) but I'm back! With a week-late Untimely round up of 2010's best tunes... blam! Well, not objectively the best, just the ones I listened to most - I'm kinda cheating by using my last.fm profile (or actually maybe that's not cheating at all, just forcing me to be honest...) - so, looking at my most listened to tunes of the last 12 months, and filtering out all of my stuff which doesn't count cos i listen to a new tune about 50 times in a row before deciding if its finished (plus all the Peter Fox, Gang Starr and Tom Waits which I listen to all the freakin time), this is what comes out... These aren't all necessarily new tunes from 2010, but they were all new to me in the last year. It's quite an interesting way to do this really, turns out what I actually listen to most is basically split between hip hop, country and urban-ish pop...

1. LDZ – La Quenta

This is from an album from a couple of years ago which has become my number one UK hip hop album since it was played to me by my Sheffield crew earlier this year, though it's more of a mixtape really... the beats are solid as fuck and the rhyming tight, inventive and funny... I absolutely love the verse at the end of this tune (from 1:37) which gets criminally faded out. go buy some of their stuff, they deserve it: LDZ at Bandcamp

2. Skinnyman – Smoking Ban

Another one from a few years ago which passed me by until a trip to Sheffield (the same one that brought LDZ to my attention), I've not been too bothered about most of Skinnyman's stuff but this tune is examplary, the beat is insane and the agression of his delivery is just amazing

more after the jump...

Discovered this quite disturbingly good album yesterday: The Dreadnoughts - Polka's Not Dead at Interpunk
(as an aside: I found the album on a naughty music blog I follow, which had posted the whole thing up on Rapidshare. I played it about four times in a row then went and ordered the CD. I'd never have even heard of these guys if it wasn't for piracy, much less bought the CD..!)

I'm not going to post the whole thing up here but here's a sneaky 128:

The Dreadnoughts - Gintlemen's Club

It's hard to do the album justice by posting a single track though - while its all basically punk, there's so much pulled through that punk filter over the course of the LP. The most obvious points of reference to my non-punk-expert ears were Gogol Bordello & Flogging Molly - except that I'm a little bored of both of them whereas this is sounding fresh - and a much more refined (would punks thank me for saying that?) version of Bristol's Surfin Turnips (who they cover on 'Turbo Island'... you shouldn't have to ask). Elsewhere the album reminds me of Monkey Island ("Gintlemen's Club" strongly recalls the SCUMM Bar music for me!), Paul Cantelon's "Everything is Illuminated" soundtrack (on "Claudia's Waltz") and a sort of punk Shantel (on "Sleep is for the Weak" which is gonna find its way into some of my sets I think). And some amazing sea-shanty harmonies - there's one fully acapella track which, given that they're a punk band, should make anyone nervous, but these boys can sing...!

Check em out on them interwebs:
Buy The Dreadnoughts - Polka's Not Dead at Interpunk
The Dreadnoughts Website
The Dreadnoughts on Facebook
(eeeeuuuurh) The Dreadnoughts on Myspace - can I reiterate: SOUNDCLOUD PLEASE GUYS

Here's a few tunes from a project of mine from a few years ago...

Celtic music seems to have largely remained off the Global Bass radar - as other traditional sounds have got swept up and incorporated into the canon of cool, there remains something distinctly uncool about Celtic music. Maybe it's the Riverdance connection? Or maybe it's just that it's too damn white?

I don't know but I love it. These tunes are a selection from a bunch that were recorded by myself and my incredibly talented friend Sean Kilbride when I was living up in the Highlands a few years back.

No downloads at the moment - DJs hit me up if you want 320s :) The stems are all on a hard drive somewhere in my mum's attic (I think!) so next time I'm over there I'll dig them out then post em up for remixy fun times.

Donald McLeod's by Sean & Andy

Gravel Walk by Sean & Andy

Weaving Song by Sean & Andy

My boy from Berlin DJ Delay has put together an awesome compilation, released this week: Beyond the Kolo. Check the promo mix:

BEYOND THE KOLO promo mix - free d/l (indiv. tracks out 20.09.10) by Beam Up & DJ Delay

This is a project which invited 9 different artists to interpret the Čačak Kolo (Serbia) in the context of their current musical direction.

Čačak kolo is the name of many Shope type dances found in Eastern Serbia, Northeastern Macedonia, and Western Bulgaria. They are characterized by their fast 2/4 metered music. Čačak dances are often referred to by the town or region from which they come.

Whilst this traditional tune is well known to anyone from the former Yugoslavia, this has not been a part of the handful of tunes, which have been remixed and re-presented in the last 10 years.

FLeCK, Joro Boro and Gypsy Syndicate give burning Dubstep remixes, with killer club tunes from DJ Superstereo, Unsoundboy, Gypsy Syndicate and DJ Delay. Tricky D stands tall with a Cumbia dub version, Curse Ov Dialect show their abstract Hiphop skills and Benjamin Skepper bows in with a tense Contemporary Classical piece.

It's all wicked - I've been banging the FLeCK and DJ Delay tunes for the past couple of weeks particularly, heavy dubstep and d&b vibes respectively, also loving the completely insane Gypsy Syndicate breakcore / balkan gabba mix, but haven't come across a crowd ready for it yet..!

Go buy:
Beyond the Kolo on iTunes
Beyond the Kolo on Juno

via Fiddlefreak...

Feeling quite intoxicated by this tune today... amazingly hypnotic almost-acapella (just a little hand drum action to accompany) which keeps lulling you into thinking you've found the groove for a few beats before hitting reset in an extremely jarring, wonky way.

Julie Fowlis - Thig Am Bata

Desperately trying to claw back some hard drive space last night I came across a >1 gig audio file which turned out to be one of my radio shows from Lochbroom FM which I'd recorded & forgotten about. For the most part it was a forgettable one so I'm not posting the whole thing - you can check out some of my old ones at my old blog - but part of it was a session / interview with Gypsy Dave Smith which I'd totally forgotten about but was amazing... And since I'm the only person in the world with this recording it seems selfish not to share...

He played a couple of amazing tunes... not sure what this first one is called: Gypsy Dave - (no title)

This second one is a Lead Belly tune: Gypsy Dave - On A Monday.

Charity shops are of course the best. Here's Velodrome 2000 saying as much in their cutesy indie-pop tones:

Velodrome 2000 - Charity Shopping

If you're from Sheffield this is either a blast from the past or a vital bit of 90s music history...

That's not what this post is about though!

Most of the music I actually buy comes from charity shops so after a particularly successful rummage this weekend I thought maybe I should start sharing my finds here.

Check em out after the jump...