[music video] Fink - Pretty little thing & Sorry I'm late (live)

Found this great live video on Fink's MySpace page:

Fink - Pretty Little Thing - Live

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[music] DJ Format - European Vacation album review

DJ Format
European Vacation
My rating: 7 / 10
Top tracks: There's only 1. It's 65 minutes long :)
Similar artists: Ummm…

Well, this was a random find. Can't remember which of my many 'net music amblings led to this little-listed album by the boy from Brighton. I was probably drunk anyway :)

How to describe it? This is a toughie. It's self-described as "a 65 minute mix of all sorts of weird & wonderful 60's & 70's music from all around Europe that DJ Format has collected on his travels. There's everything from German Pysch, Polish 60's Beat, Swedish Jazz, Hungarian Rock and Czech Pop but it is of course mixed in a b-boy style in keeping with Format's roots."

Right. That's clear then.

But what does it sound like? It's a 65-minute mix of some really funky, odd stuff. Seamlessly mixed together (natch, for Matt is a turntable-meister), it offers some bongo action, much slap-bass and some bizarre but soothing voiceovers in several languages.

It's really quite good fun. I'm listening to it now and I can't help but raise a wry smile to the mad, shrieking person (yet oddly melodic) 3 minutes before the end. It's different for sure, and that's a good thing. Give it a try. I'll try to post a sample at some point.

Buy this album now

[movie] Identity

I can't think of many good mystery thrillers that I've seen in my time but John Cusack and Ray Liotta alone were enough to get me to rent this. Alright, Amanda Peet may have had *something* to do with, although she could do with a pie and a pint as she's stick-thin.

Anyway, I'm really glad I did. It's a very clever movie. I thought I'd clocked it from the outset but half-way through it throws a curveball and you work out what's really going on. Then at the end it proves you know nothing at all and throws you completely :)

The shooting of this movie is fantastic. It's all pretty-much set in one location (a back-ass motel in the desert), which I'm a sucker for as it forces the movie to rely on storyline, acting and script (so often missing these days). It's why Twelve Angry Men is one of my favourite movies. And the rain is so incessant. It just keeps on coming. So much so that it becomes a character in itself, which is brilliantly crafted.

Go get it now, it won't disappoint.

[movie] Dead man's shoes

I'd never heard of this when it was recommended to me, but it's a blinder of a psychological thriller. Brit-made, set in the north of England it's tense as hell. The lead character is unashamedly nuts - the story makes no attempts to present a 'boogey-man': you and the characters all know who it is from the outset.

But he's a nutter :)

You don't find out why until the end and the story takes on a real sense of worth when you get there.

Another one definitely recommended.

[movie] Running Scared

Watched this recently - really great action thriller. Not your machismo 1-man-army nonsense but tense stuff with a lot of unexpected twists. Got a bit confused at the very end but still great. Highly recommended.

[off-topic] Who you gonna call?

So, some hilarious prick thought it would be a great idea to call my house phone 3 times in the middle of the night last night, while I was sleeping. Usual pathetic kids stuff, but the morons didn't even block the number they were calling from.

So, if you fancy using the number for spam, viral texts, porn, or anything else that springs to mind feel free.

The number is: 07916 287 174
For international users, that's: +447916 287 174


That number again:

07916 287 174

Go nuts. I am. Signing them up to every single thing I can get my hands on.

Fink - Biscuits for breakfast album review

Fink
Biscuits for breakfast
My rating: 8 / 10
Top tracks: Pretty little thing, Hush Now (feat. Tina Grace), Biscuits
Similar artists: Breaks co-op

Over the past year or so, I've increasingly become a huge fan of sawgrass blues; that wonderful corner of the musical world where you just need to close your eyes and listen to picture a darkened, smoky den where people gather to listen to the scratch & slide of a blues guitar, laid under the whisky-drenched vocals of a singer baring their heart for all to see. I feel so privileged to enjoy such beautiful music and delighted that I stopped listening to the truly throwaway, inane nonsense I experienced as a teen.

Fink is an outstanding addition to my collection of this genre. Finian Greenhall (his real name) has trodden one of the more unusual paths to get to this point. Having been a techno trip-hop artist for some time, he switched to being a singer/songwriter playing simple, pure blues tracks in less than a decade. And for that, I thank him and hope he stays 'this side' of the musical line.

"Biscuits for breakfast" is an honest, gentle journey through some real bourbon-sipping blues tracks. It's not mired in that self-obsessed depression that much of the blues is (Nick Drake, I love ya mate but I wish you'd been a bit cheerier), instead opting for some, at times, amusing lyrics and stories. "Pretty little thing" is a great little track about, well, a really hot girl. Describing one of those women that stops a room dead when she enters (and knows it) it has a great little twist at the end:

All my boys say,
"You won't get her number",
I ain't saying nothin'…,
276284081…

"Pills in my pocket" is a great little track about music festivals (and I think a little love story in there too, but I'm not sure), whilst "Biscuits" is something all office workers can relate to:

Biscuits for breakfast,
Cup of tea for the man,
4 more years of this shit,
And I'll be on 16 grand…

"Hush now" is a spooky little lullaby, enough to make any grown man want to lay down next to Tina Grace as she breathes her way through this sleepy blues number.

All in all, it's a great little album, and one that I've played over and over. My only criticism is that it's too short, but that's only because I never want it to end and send me reeling back to the rat-race real world.

 Fink - So long

 Fink - Pretty little thing

Buy this album from Amazon

Party Ben - The Sixx Mixxes review

Party Ben
Sixx Mixx
My rating: 10 / 10
Top tracks: Sixx Mixx #85, Sixx Mixx #47, Sixx Mixx #49

I stumbled upon the Sixx Mixxes about 1 year ago and they blew me away. I'd never heard of the term mash-up before then, and didn't know that people were taking 2 or more tracks and overlaying them. It was like a voyage of discovery for me :)

Once I'd heard one or two, I was hooked. After extensive Googling, I found a BitTorrent link to all 105 (at the time, there are 111 in total) weighing in at 2.5Gb. I set it up over night, slapped all 105 onto my iPod and never looked back. Party Ben did a weekly 30-minute mix spot on Live 105 San Francisco radio station. Sadly, they're the spot is no longer featured on the station so that 111 is all you're gonna get (although 55 hours of mash-up mixes is enough for anyone :) ).

So, what's so good about them? The sheer diversity of the tracks and the skill displayed in mixing sometimes 5 tracks together at one time - it really is something else. And who can deny the genius of mixing the theme from "The Muppet Show" with Electric Six's "Gay Bar"? (that one's at the end of Sixx Mixx #47, linked above).

It's a weird review this one, because I'm not reviewing 1 thing - there are just so darn many good moments in this collection. I've linked a directory below which has all 111 mixes. They are freeware so just head off and grab them, but remember to tell your friends and spread the love. Oh, and there's I've streamed #85 below as it's one of my favourites :)

 Party Ben - Sixx Mixx #85

Get all 111 Sixx Mixxes here!