Love love loved that tacky record cover my Dollegue put up here a couple of days ago! Well last week I found quite a unique sleeve myself while I was charity shopping in London (in a completely different genre though):Being a big Morrissey and The Smiths fan myself, my heart started to melt when I spotted this embodiment of pure Mozzer dedication. This fan just couldn't stand having this great single sitting in a dull, plain white sleeve! I love the back cover even more. The His Masters Voice dog is there (twice), plus production and photo credits ("Smash Hits" - haha). Too bad there are no credits for the artwork!
I already own a copy of the 7", but I was happy to pay 50p for this amazing piece of teenage cut-and-past-work. Plus it is a truly great single. Suedehead is nothing short of brilliant, but I Know Very Well How I Got My Name on the flip side is so beautiful it makes me cry.
My apologies dear readers for being off the radar for so long. Holiday in France, working on our rollator-soundsystem Blanche, tight deadlines, a course at Central Saint Martins in London and friends visiting were to blame. But now I’m catsitting in London for a week so for once I’ve got loads of interesting stuff to blog about!
In between work I’m planning to go to lots of museums and exhibitions, a musical, the Hackney carnival, do shopping (of course), go to Brighton and see lots of live music. I’m not doing too bad on the latter with Field Day festival, Jens Lekman, the Blow and the Evan Parker Trio already under my belt.
Funnily enough balding men were the stars at Field Day. Caribou was great live, playing songs of his EXCELLENT album Swim. Max Tundra could play schlagers for all I care ‘cause his dance moves are the best and make his sets always enjoyable. I was pleasantly surprised by a very techno-oriented set by experimentalist Matthew Herbert, partly created from the top of a ladder and in a little dome tent on stage.
Then on Tuesday we went to see Jens Lekman and The Blow in the beautiful Union Chapel in London’s East End. My friend Kate was spot on when she described The Blow as “the female Max Tundra”; her dancing was a bit like a spastic tapdance. Very nice, just like the songs (with lots of finger snapping and hand clapping sound effects). It was a bit of a pitty her lyrics were inaudible due to the enormous natural reverb of the church. Then again, it's a real church with pews and a pulpit and candles, so what are you gonna do. Jens Lekman's performance was a joy, as always. I never listen to his albums (his “tram number seven to heaven, did you eat your banana from Seven Eleven”- lyrics tend to get on my nerves), but when he’s in the neighborhood I can’t resist seeing him. He's just too charming! And from the balcony where I was sitting I noticed Jens is balding…
Last night my beau tried to push my musical boundaries by taking me to The Vortex Jazz Club to see Evan Parker, an apparently very famous free jazz improvising saxophone player. This music needs trained ears to be fully appreciated, I think. So I just took a pen and doodled away on the reservation card that was lying on the table. In return for enduring this my boy promised me to join me to ANY show of my choice. So tonight I’m dragging him along to a African house club night at Notting Hill Arts Club. Ngagna, sweet revenge.
My trip to London last week was kind of a last minute decision. And as you need to book your train tickets three months in advance in this country to get an affordable fare, I was forced to take the bus.. Which sucks because by train London is just 2 hours away, by bus it takes over 3 hours. But then again I kept £45 in my pocket (which I could spend in London on 2nd hand records, books (bought at a gem of a bookstore,Bookmongersin Brixton), the most delicious sourdough pizza at Franco Manca, several pints of ale, and on seeing Mats Gustafsson. Plus I was able to put a good dent in the 600-page book I'm currently reading:Last Night a DJ Saved My Life - The History of the Disc Jockey. It's very entertaining, very informative and I can highly recommend the book to anyone who is interested in dance music, whether it's soul, disco, hip hop or techno.
I'm half way through the book and so, as the bus made its way onto the M4 on Thursday morning, I continued reading the chapter Hip Hop Roots. I read about the pioneering work of DJ Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa in the Bronx in the '70s. I read about the relationship between disco and hip hop and the links between punk and hip hop, in which Malcolm McLaren played a big role.I chuckled over this part where McLaren goes to some block party in the South Bronxin the early days of hip hop:
"In August 1981 McLaren had been introduced to Afrika Bambaataa by Michael Holman, a black video artist who had taken him up to the Bronx to witness this amazing new music scene. The Sex Pistol's ex-manager was then steering the fortunes of pop band Bow Wow Wow, and formulating an ambitious album project based on smelting together the world's folk-dance music (this would become this Duck Rock LP). Despite a harrowing night during which he was, by most accounts, completely petrified, McLaren was mesmerised. 'It was like Heart of Darkness,' laughs Holman. 'I go to the hotel and I'm about to take them up to the Bronx on a summer evening - McLaren and Rory Johnston from RCA - and they're dressed like fucking pirates, in all that Vivienne Westwood gear. I thought we were gonna get stuck up or shot at any second. We finally get there and we go from a place that's completely deserted to masses and masses of kids, nothing but teenagers running from one corner to another, watching fights break out in the crowd. It's insane. Bottles flying everywhere. Malcom's dressed like a pirate - and nobody noticed us.'"
Watch and listen to McLaren's own account of this event in the 1984 BBC documentary Beat This! A Hip Hop History. Hehe I love it...
Back at my hotel I learned Malcom McLaren had died that morning.
He might have been a bit of a tosser, but credit where credit's due, his influence on pop culture is undeniable. So here's some ancient hip hop for you, including McLaren's go at rapping (from 1983) and Afrika Bambaataa biggest hit Planet Rock (from 1982). I'm also putting up Takin’ All that Jazz by Stetsasonic from 1988 because it nicely reflects on the state of hip hop at the time and the criticism it received (that it wasn’t creative because of the sampling and that it was a fad(!)). And look where we are today. In part thanks to that fucking pirate.
Ras Kwame, one of my favourite Radio 1 DJ's, recommended the film Babylon on one of his shows. Now I know this man has good taste, and he was spot on about this one as well.
Set in South London during the early eighties Babylon tells us about the trials and tribulations of Blue, a 'toaster' (= an MC) for a soundsystem. After its screening in 1980 it was released on VHS, but copies were limited. Thus it was virtually unavailable, but it gained a cult following thanks to people making copies of copies of copies. Now 28 years later the movie has been completely restored, remastered and re-released on DVD! Not only the improved sound and picture quality should be a major leap forward compared to the (bootleg) VHS, also the subtitle option in the DVD menu is very welcome addition. At least, for people like me who find Jamaican Patois a little hard to follow.
I bought the DVD last week and I finally got around watching it last night. I thought it was a good. Grim and pretty depressing, but good. And it was great to catch a glimpse of the dancehall culture in London in the 80's...
It reminded me about another movie I watched a couple of months ago: This Is England. Also about troubled youth in the eighties and the way music played an important role in their lives...
The two movies kind of tell two sides of the same story, and the soundtracks have the same roots (reggae and the 2nd wave of ska). They're definitely not feel-good-movies, except maybe for the fact they make you happy the 80's are over. They also show music can be a source of consolation and hope. Thank JAH for music! SELAH!
So this weekend I was in London and I was thrilled that Rye Rye would be in town as well! This girl (she is barely 18 I think) from Baltimore has already worked with the likes of M.I.A., Blaqstarr, Diplo and The Count and Sinden. No cat pee, as we would say in Holland! Anyways... on Fridaynight we headed to East London for this club Cargo. When we got there it was well beyond midnight and there was a looooong queue. We had been standing in line for a good 20 minutes (my boyfriend even had gone to the off license around the corner to fetch us some beers to make the wait bearable) when we reached this sign:
Exit queue.
I hope things are okay with Rye Rye and family (may be she is a distant relative of MJ??!)... We enjoyed the rest of our beers while we wandered the streets of übertrendy Shoreditch, watching the hipsters and their fixies. Even though I was absolutely gutted by Rye Rye's cancellation, it couldn't ruin my weekend in London. I had a really good time with friends. I went to a screening of animations by Don Hertzfelt (plus Q&A with the man himself) and I visited a great exhibition of my heroes Roald Dahl and Quentin Blake at the Museum of Childhood, where I saw some original drawings of the latter for the first time in my life (it made my eyes watery). And I went on a boat ride. So what the heck, here is Rye Rye's latest with our darling M.I.A..
The lack of flea markets (or car boot or table top sales as they call it here) in Cardiff, is more than compensated by the existence of CHARITY SHOPS. I love charity shops! It's dead cheap, you recycle and the money you spend goes to a good cause. Now that's what I call a win win win situation! This week I was working on an illustration and I really could use a bit of inspiration. So I decided to take a break and walk over to the three charity shops around the corner in the hope to expand my 'library'. Well, I spent four quid and came back with eight awesome books! I bought five Roald Dahl/Quentin Blake paperbacks for just 25p each. Among these was The BFG, which I had only read in Dutch. It contains my favourite word in the world: SNOSCUMBER. Or in Dutch SNOSKOMMER, which I think is a more than excellent translation, it sounds better than in English!
I also got this DIY sewing book for kids. It has nice drawings of sewing machines and sewing instructions. And some really nice 70s fonts. Can't wait to make my first egg cosy...
Last but not least I bought a cook book, also from that era. I just love the colours of 70s food. Doesn't it look delicious?! It makes my mouth water. And they really knew how to decorate back then! Check out that piece of meat with peaches and cherries!!
Talking about charity shops, there is this guy who blogs about the cassette tapes he buys at an Oxfam charity shop in London: dalstonoxfamshop.blogspot.com. He also travels quite a bit and buys cassettes where ever he goes. On his blog is a story about him having a day lay over in Honolulu. Instead of going to the beach or whatever, he and his girlfriend headed for the wrong side of town to go to the thrift store. On their way back they stumble on a yard sale where he buys old school 80s RnB dance tapes and a black TDK cassette with a sticker that says 'funk rock'. Go listen to this funk rock on his blog!
It's time we put some more music up here! Thing is, I’ve got a soft spot for female vocalists. No matter what genre, indie, hard rock, soul, hip hop, I dig it. Now don't get me wrong here, I'm not into EVERY female singer (Celine D., Lady Gaga, Within Temptation... God forbid!). But two women who do combine a great sound with a great voice are Zarif and VV Brown. They’re both based in London, they're both in their early 20's (23 and 24) and they both draw on 60's soul, funk, girl groups and doo-wop. They mix it with 80's pop and indie respectively to create tunes that are going to be MASSIVE in 2009. I'm telling you!!
Should you ever be in London and feel like BOWLING, go to the basement of Tavistock Hotel for some good clean fun! A friend of mine celebrated her birthday here last Saturday and WE HAD A BALL (sorry, that was too cheesy). DJs were spinning rock 'n roll, soul, garage rock, girl groups and boogaloo while I was guttering every single throw.The place got packed; cardigans, petticoats and polkadots galore!There was some serious hipshaking going on at the dancefloor, while the bowling continued and burgers were being served in the diner. Ace!!
Dutch Dolls is a Design + DJ duo. This is our blog. Here we write about our designs, upcoming gigs, events and exhibitions, our latest musical findings, inspirations and whatever goes on in our daily lives...
All music and images posted on this blog are for promotional purposes only. Downloads are available for about a week. You like what you hear? Buy it!!! Links to the artists' websites are always provided in the posts.
If you are an artist, or are affiliated with an artist and you want your music/image taken down, please contact us and we'll be happy to do so.
Being a big Morrissey and The Smiths fan myself, my heart started to melt when I spotted this embodiment of pure Mozzer dedication. This fan just couldn't stand having this great single sitting in a dull, plain white sleeve! I love the back cover even more. The His Masters Voice dog is there (twice), plus production and photo credits ("Smash Hits" - haha). Too bad there are no credits for the artwork!
