Tony McDermott wins the world cup…

I knew there was something fishy about the Scritti Politi track that Trick picked out for show 54. Ranking Ann’s style sounded too measured for this to be a flash in the pan pop-reggae cash-in, and sure enough after a quick leaf through the shelves it turned out Ann was part of Mad Professor’s Ariwa posse, the south London collective who have been pushing the boundaries of dub, dancehall and lovers rock for near on 3 decades.

There’s always been something which sets British reggae aside from it’s Caribbean counterparts, maybe it’s the weather; a drizzly autumn afternoon in any UK inner city is pretty much the antithesis of that old sun-drenched reggae myth. And with our temperate climate comes a tumultuous sense of humour, one captured by Greensleeves in-house designer Tony McDermott who’s caricatures remain as much a part of the UK reggae idiom as Janet Kay’s silly games or David Hinds’ hair.

I’ll spare you any more spiel and leave you to marvel at some of my favourite McDermott covers…

This month’s theme show: The beatless special.

Nope that’s not a typo, I did say ‘beatless’ and yes that’s a Beatle to the left but given this coming Wednesdays theme show is a drumless one, the visual pun shouldn’t be too difficult to decipher.

As ever the outline is a vague one and we can assure you that the selections will go a long way beyond the obvious acoustic sing-a-longs and ambient whale songs such a theme may suggest.

I don’t want to give too much away but a couple of drummer alternatives I’ve uncovered in the process included a tap dancer and a wok, and to balance things out we’ve coerced our part time glam-rock drumming associate Ed Zed to rattle your speakers with his buffeting baritone.

Tune in tomorrow night, usual time, usual place.

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #55 (Oct.’09)

… AKA “the one for our Mums”. This week we decided to step up with a fair spread of tracks taking in anything from the 90s loveliness of Girls Against Boys to the Gloria Estefan-toting Lindstrøm & Christabelle. We also feature two of Tom’s worst selections ever, namely bogle covers of Bette Midler and Bryan Adams. No, seriously. On top of that we have the sublime stylings of Lorraine Ellison, the Coltrane-covering Red Holt and, despite protestations, the annual revisit of Meshuggah -- an airing best summed up by the message we received during the show from listener Jesscapeshop via Twitter: “somehow a year between airings doesn’t seem quite long enough”…

So, as ever, grab your cognac, settle into your oxblood leather armchair, put those slipper-covered feet up on the coffee table and join us as we reprise the Camden Lurch for the next 60 minutes…

Tracklisting:
Girls Against Boys “In Like Flynn”
Lindstrøm & Christabelle “Baby Don’t Stop (Aeroplane Remix)”
Lindstrøm & Christabelle “Baby Don’t Stop (Radio Edit)” (snippet)
Lorraine Ellison “Stay With Me Baby”
Mark Holder “Wind Beneath My Wings” (snippet)
Singing Sweet “Everything I Do (Bogle Lick)” (snippet)
Hot Chip “Tchaparian”
Shrag “Hopelessly Wasted”
Red Holt “Favourite Things”
Meshuggah “New Millenium Cyanide Christ”
Paddy Roberts “The Big Dee Jay”

The soundbed this week was Andrew Weatherall’s remix of Weekender. RIP Liam.

Click here to download the show! (116Mb, 256k MP3)

The featured video this week is also a Flowered Up tribute -- part 1 of their awesome Weekender video (check the clip for a link to part 2 as well):

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #54 (Oct.’09)

After the train-wreck of last week’s show when both myself and Tom were rendered dumb and mumbling thanks to too much work and no goddamn sleep, we were keen to make amends this week with some fine selections and a better line in chatter too.

With yours truly fresh from a fine day out at the Jukebox Madness record fair, 45s were high on the agenda, taking in anything from the mighty, marvellous vocal harmonies of Johnny and the Expressions to the rather bizarre 80s rap moments of Dr. John. Tom’s contributions took in something of a synth theme, loosely tying Holger Hiller, Restiform Bodies and even Wilson Pickett into the mix…

Tracklisting:
J.D Alex “Grasshopper”
Johnny and the Expressions “Something I Want To Tell You”
Wilson Pickett “Don’t Knock My Love (Part II)”
Dr. John “Jet Set”
Holger Hiller “Neighbours (Demixed by Steve)”
Richard Hawley “Open Up Your Door”
Restiform Bodies “Recycle America”
Scritti Politti “Flesh and Blood”

The soundbed was various tracks from the new Alberta Cross album.

Click here to download the show! (116Mb, 256k MP3)

Featured video this week is courtesy of Holger Hiller:

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #53 (Oct.’09)

Sorry. Sorry sorry sorry…

Every once in a while we have an off night (hey! stop that at the back…) and this was one such fine instance where the planets align, all the pieces fall into place… and we have just about everything go wrong.

Of course cock-ups are fun (at which point we should mention the naked man cover courtesy of Man… sorry), so we’re confident this should prove a fine listen, albeit potentially for the wrong reasons. In our defence though, the tracks selected are top dollar, including Nigerian disco from the dubiously named Dr Adolf Aonotu, Roots Manuva-led dancehall courtey of Breakage and possibly the worst-named band in living memory: Bloody Beetroots…

Tracklisting:
Dr. Adolf Aonotu “Ijere”
Gougoush “I Believe In Love”
Mat Young “Indica”
Jetpak “An Elderly Game”
Bloody Beetroots feat Cool Kids “Awesome”
Breakage “Run Em Out”
Junior Ross and the Spears “Say Jah Jah Say (Mr Trick version)”
Kathy Smith “Topanga”
Joe Higgs “Journey To Freedom”

and the sound-bed would’ve been “The Alchemist” by Man

Click here to download the show! (256k MP3, 115Mb)

Featured video this week is a curio Tom dug up, courtesy of Gougoush:

Mr Trick & Wrongtom: Show #52 (Sept.’09)

Ordinarily our last show of the month is a theme one, but this month we felt we’d deviated from the standard show format a fair bit, and so hence this week we eschew the thematic take to bring you, er, well two loose themes of sorts.

For my part, the tracks are 100% new releases; quite a shock to anyone who listens regularly and hears my ranting about the quality of new releases. Tom, on the other hand, steps up with a fistful of Acid Jazz-related tracks, with a concerted attempt to shed more light on the lesser-known gems of a label traditionally associated with Corduroy and the James Taylor Quartet.

So, get listening below to hear tracks from Thavius Beck, Tyondai Braxton, Mother Earth, United Future Organisation and more…

Tracklisting:
Mother Earth “Riot On 103rd St”
Thavius Beck “Go (Offshore Remix)”
United Future Organization “My Foolish Dream”
Fink “See It All”
Benjamin Zephaniah “Dry”
Tyondai Braxton “Opening Bell”
Modulations “Rough Out Here”

Soundbed this week was various tracks from the new Blockhead album “The Music Scene”.

Click here to download the show! (111Mb, 256k MP3)

Featured video for this week isn’t a musical one per se -- its Tyondai Braxton talking about his Central Market album, which has remained glued to the Mr Trick Listening Post since I got my hands on it…

A Potential Success Story.

Another day another death; it looks like I’m gonna remember 2009 as the year that killed off my childhood. For those that missed it we lost Mr Magic yesterday, a Hip Hop institution who’s been immortalized in wax for almost as long as rap music, with his debut record hitting the shelves barely months after “King Tim III” and “Rappers Delight”.

I’d be under rightful scrutiny if I claimed I was listening to Magic’s Message at the time, nor would I make out that I was somehow tuning into The Rap Attack radio show which he started in ‘83 on New York’s WBLS-FM. I actually don’t think I even knew who he was until well into the 90’s when I heard records like the epic disco rap of “Potential” and the heavily sampled “Rappin With Mr Magic”. It was around this time I read an interview with KRS One pinpointing Mr Magic as the accidental instigator of the short lived but meme inducing Bridge Wars -- the Bronx vs Queens battle sparked by KRS dismantling MC Shan’s “The Bridge” and rebuilding it across the East River as “South Bronx”.

My 1st bridge wars purchase was “The Bridge Is Over” by BDP, with it’s unbridled disrobing of Roxanne Shante and further attacks on Shan & Marley Marl, it’s now bewildering to think that a guy from Connecticut started the whole thing. Back tracking a couple of years, BDP started life as The Celebrity Three then quickly became 12:41, it was in this incarnation that KRS went to see Mr Magic in the hope of some recognition for his Mantronix endorsed “$uccess Is The Word” which Magic instantly wrote off as wack. With Magic championing his assistant Marley Marl’s Juice Crew, a disgruntled KRS went straight home and penned South Bronx, dissecting and deriding the crew that up until that day he’d supposedly wanted to be a part of, and the rest is career affirming (and in some cases career destroying) history.

I’d considered compiling a bunch of youtube links to the original bridge battles but alas they’re not all up there, obviously I could have focussed on Mr Magic’s back catalog but you could always head over to Stones Throw and pick up their excellent The Third Unheard LP which features hard to find early tracks from Mr Magic and his Connecticut cohorts. In the meantime, what’s the word..?

That Old Frog and Toad.

There was a short list of records which could have made it onto last week’s show after we heard the shocking news of Chas & Dave parting company. I’d considered some of their more highbrow work with the likes of Labi Sifre, or maybe some tracks in their earlier folk guises of Spike Island, Magna Carter, and Heads Hands & Feet but one song I’d swiftly disregarded was the old knees up shuffle of “That Old Piano”. Much as I love the sentiment, having many a misty eyed memory of my granddad plonking out the rags on his almost atonal ivories, it was no match for the swan song (or should i say swan album) that is Musn’t Grumble with their one part pastiche, one part paean to the world of disco “Turn That Noise Down” which could really do with getting the disco dub treatment at some point.

One thing I didn’t know was Chas & Dave were by no means the sole artists on their own Rockney record label. I took a quick look at their discography and found myself double taking as we often do here at Trick n Tom heights, who else should be hiding amongst the sideboards, rabbits and christmas jamborees but none other than Clarence ‘Frogman’ Henry. Yes, the same Frogman of gravel voiced vagrant fame, as immortalized by a pre junk addled Corey Haim in Lost Boys, singing in the bath to “Aint Got A Home”. And what song did he perform? None other than the afore mentioned ode to joanna of “That Old Piano” which you can now enjoy in all 3 or so minutes of youtubed glory…