Next Monday is an important day for any fans of Nirvana as it sees the release of both the 20th Anniversary Edition of their debut album Bleach and the DVD of their legendary 1992 Reading Festival headline slot. The two releases bookmark the band at two very different stages in their history and are essential acquisitions for any fans of the Seattle three piece.
Despite going on to become one of the most popular and influential bands of all time, things were a lot different for Nirvana in 1989. Recorded for a measly $606.17, Bleach lays the foundations of the bands vitriolic sound that would soon become so popular. However in the late eighties, Nirvana were far from the zeitgeist. Disenchanted by the overblown pomposity of the hair metal scene, the band aimed to craft songs that forged melody with lo-fi production and feedback. While Bleach is no means a perfect album, it’s an interesting snap shot of the band before they morphed into the inspiring behemoth they would become. The re-issue is gloriously packaged with a booklet that includes never before released pictures of the band and also a bonus live disc, capturing the band at a 1990 show in Pine Street Theatre, Portland Oregon.
In 1992 Nirvana headlined Reading Festival with what is widely counted as one of the greatest rock performances of all time. Rumors circulated at the time about Cobains health and whether the band would actually be appearing at all, fuelled by the singer’s decision to take to the stage in a wheel chair. However he soon jumped from the chair to join in with the rest of the band. Bootlegs of the performance have circulated amongst fans for years, but this is its first official release.
Considering the recent furor about Cobains, ill advised, posthumous appearance in Guitar Hero 5, it’s great to once again focus on Nirvana as a band – rather than a brand.
A track with Pharrell, 5 cars, countless watches, a pad in L.A, and he still doesn’t think he’s made it? By now everyone into house music (and some pop fans) will no doubt have heard about Steve Angelo. He was the guy behind the re-rub of Robin S ‘Show Me Love’, with fellow producer Laidback Luke, you know the one, the track that went ballistic across every European national chart. He is also 33.3 % of The Swedish House Mafia, the too hot to handle bad boys of Dance music. As a solo artist, Steve’s talents did not go unnoticed by Super star DJ Erick Morillo who quickly became his number one fan. Afer a great deal of chasing, Erick has finally got Steve to produce an album for his beloved Subliminal label. Here Erick interviews Steve and finds out about the man, his music and what’s he has done with the new mix.
When you first started out did you wish you could be Erick Morillo
Erick’s a big inspiration for a lot of DJ’s, you can see a little bit of him in everyone from David Guetta to us and to anybody. I think he’s a really big inspiration to house DJ’s.
At what point in your career did think ‘This is it, I’ve made it!’?
I still don’t think I’ve made it yet. There’s still so much more you can do and you can always achieve and accomplish more than what you’ve done. So I’m still waiting for that moment.
Tell me about your passions outside of music.
I’m definitely into cars and watches and food! I have 5 cars, 11 or 12 watches.
What’s the difference in your sound when you’re playing a stadium to when you’re playing an underground club? Read more…
Candi Staton’s ‘You’ve Got The Love’ has remained a club favourite since it’s 1986 releases largely thanks to a slew of 90′s remakes; the most prominent of which mixes Candi’s legendary gospel vocals with the sleazy proto-hose stylings of Frankie Knuckle’s ‘Your Love’. Recently interest in the record has seemed to increase with the use of the record in the finale of ‘Sex And The City’ (one for the girls) and Kasabian’s cheeky cover version which has been climaxing their live sets throughout the year (one for the fellas). Although there’s more than enough versions of ‘You’ve Got The Love’ floating around, Florence & The Machine’s rendition of the song still comes as a welcome edition. Florence’s vocals really shine when coupled with the familiartity of the lyrics, while the drama of the bands backing has made ‘You’ve Got The Love’ a great curtain closer at Florence’s live gigs. The new video for ‘You’ve Got The Love’ is a Studio 54 themed affair complete with white suits, dodgy ‘taches and an amazingly on form Florence – who plays the roll of a flame haired sex vixen singing from crazy suspended half moon glitter ball. Check out the video here.
The popularity of Jason DeRulo’s ‘Whatcha Say’ shows no signs of diminishing as it enters it’s sixth week at the top of the USA Tag Chart while also taking the number one slot in the Shazam UK Pre-Release Tag Chart . At this rate the track might almost catch Black Eyed Peas ‘Boom Boom Pow’ as the most tagged track of 2009!
James Murphy strikes again. The first hint of how the third LCD Soundsystem‘s album might sound is this cover of Alan Vega’s ‘Bye Bye Bayou’, reinventing the Suicide member’s original like an explosion of 21st century disco.
The track was not meant to be released on vinyl until November the 7th, but an early internet leak has prompted Murphy to allow the first 20.000 visitors to the following link a free download in exchange for their contact details. Hurry up and enjoy!
As pseudo gangster films go ‘Dead Man Running’ could just be the perfect storm. Staring self confessed ‘Gangster rapper’ 50 Cent and self confessed ‘tasty geezer’ Danny Dyer; the film will see the worlds of ‘Lock Stock…’ style East End hard men and gun toting rappers collide on the big screen for the first time since Guy Ritchie placed Ludacris in his disastrous 2008 crime film, ‘RocknRolla’. The synopsis sees Danny Dyer and Tammer Hassan get in to a spot of Barney Rubble * after taking a loan from the shadowy underwourld figure, Figo (50 Cent).Predictably, the pair then have 24 Hours to pay back the 100 bags of sand * before everything goes right on top. Scenes with plenty of guns, cars, women, sharp suites and fights ensue. If all that wasn’t enough to get the readership of ‘Nuts’ magazine salivating the movie is also produced by Premiership football stars Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Cole.
It will either be the best or the worse film ever made.
‘Dead Man Running’ is released 30th October in the UK
* For those who don’t speak fluent Cockney “Barney Rubble” = “trouble” and “Bag of sand” = grand . You just can’t help yourself when you’re watching Danny Dyer!
Girls debut album ‘Album’ may well be shaping up to be one of the records of the year. Hailing from San Francisco, Girls craft blissful ditties that recall the lo-fi grunge of The Lemonheads but also the saccharine melodies perfected by Brian Wilson. Lead singer Chris Owens vocal delivery drifts somewhere between a young Elvis Costello and Dinosaur Jr’s J. Mascis and tonight he has the rammed London crowd hanging off his every word. Read more…
Dance music pioneers Underworld may have made their name producing stadium filling techno anthems such as ‘Born Slippy’ and ‘Rez’, but the band’s latest mix album looks to be something of a more sedate and cerebral affair drawing on the group’s early love of synth pop and industrial electronics. With original artwork painted by frontman Karl Hyde (see below), the new release draws on a mixture of jazz influenced house, avant-garde pop and out- there experimentalism from the likes of Squarepusher As Karl from the band explains “We are often painted as a techno act, but we like to think we’ve been much broader than that musically. You do become stereotyped, so for us it is nice to get pieces like this out and show that we can recontextualise our sound.” However, as interesting as the concept of Underworld’s new album is, the main talking point has to be the band’s previously unreleased collaboration with musical impresario Brian Eno which rounds off the release in some style. Underworld ‘Athens’ is released on !K7 on the 23rd November.
Tracklisting:
01 Alice Coltrane Journey In Satchidananda 02 Mahavishnu Orchestra You Know, You Know 03 Squarepusher Theme From Sprite 04 Soft Machine Penny Hitch 05 Roxy Music 2HB 06 Detroit Experiment Space Odyssey 07 Moodyman Rectify 08 Osunlade The Promise 09 Underworld Oh 10 Laurent Garnier Gnaumankoudji (Broken Afro Mix) 11 Miroslav Vitous New York City 12 Brian Eno & Karl Hyde Beebop Hurry (EXCLUSIVE UNRELEASED TRACK)
French producers Arno Cost and Norman Doray may not currently be household names, but the Parisian pair are quickly gaining a reputation among fans of big room electro house as ones to watch. Scene mainstays such as Pete Tong and Axwell have championed the pair’s music throughout the year and with several appearances at David Guetta’s ‘F*** Me I’m Famous’ night under their belts Cost & Doray are quickly developing a considerable reputation on the world’s club circuit.
Now to celebrate the release of their debut compilation on CR2, ‘Arno Cost & Norman Doray Live & Direct’, we are not only giving you a free mix from Arno Cost to download – but also a chance to win a bundle of CR2 mix CD’s including the new one from Cost & Doray.
All you have to do to stand a chance of winning is email competition@shazamteam.com with your address and answer to the following question:
At what Ibiza club is ‘F*** Me I’m Famous’ usually held? A) DC-10 B) Pacha C) Amnesia
‘Arno Cost & Norman Doray Live & Direct’ is released 26th October (Full Terms and conditions here)
Fresh from their double win at the UK’s MOBO awards, N-Dubz return with a new single, ‘I Need You’. Musically the record is not a million miles from recent number one singles from Taio Cruz and Tinchy Stryder. However, N-Dubz’s frontman Dappy exudes a love him or hate him swagger which manages to give this single a sense of cheeky fun. Dappy’s lyrics about finding hot girls on Facebook seem completely uncontrived, largely due to the fact that with 38,936 Facebook friends you can imagine this is exactly how Dappy finds his women. The music video for ‘I Need You’ see’s the London group cash in on their recent platinum selling status. Featuring a swish nightclub, stupidly fast Ducati motorbikes and actual real-life helicopters, the video is almost of P. Diddy bling proportions – there was even cash to buy Dappy a new bobble hat! Throw in some pretty catchy vocal exchanges between the male and female members of the group and you have another N-Dubz single that looks like it will be troubling the top end of the UK charts pretty soon.
