No Lists

It’s that time of year again when everyone is compelled to write a best of list. Not here at Squeaky Sneaker where lists stink of order and we don’t like that stink. Haven’t got a lot of time for lists. I enjoy reading them on other peoples blogs, but the thought of preparing one for myself is horrible. As a poker player you want to be moving onto the next hand all the time, not looking back on what you threw away. Keep it future, keep it stupid. What I’ve liked this year is on the blog and anything I’ve missed I’m going to keep to myself. Retain some mystery.

Needless to say it’s been a year of  great music and not so great music. A year of highs and lows. I haven’t purchased enough things, seen enough movies or gone to enough gigs. I’ve drunk too much, smoked to much and eaten too much crap that’s not good for me. I’ve laughed, I haven’t cried once, I’ve got very angry with THE POWERS THAT BE and generally being governed by a bunch of cunts. I’ve enjoyed protests and anger flooding onto the streets and I hope that there’s more of it next year.

2011 will be better in everyway from 2010. Hope you have a great one and stay tuned

x

Merry Christmas!

Having a break for Christmas. Have a good one and hope you get everything you need.

 

Shooting The Shit (Out Of Things)

Hunter S Thompson was my favourite writer. There’s a musicality to his writing that gripped me from the time I picked up his first book Hells Angels, when I was a Jack Kerouac obsessed teen. He was a nutter aswell, which also appealed, unashamedly consuming massive amounts of drink and drugs, shooting guns and getting himself into scrapes wherever he went. He was basically a dangerous man to have as your teen idol.

His journalism was possibly in large parts fabricated, who knows. It was gonzo, where the reporter became part, if not central to the story. If you can get yourself into one of his books, you’re in for the ride of your life, his observations, use of language, anti-authoritarian rants are pure poetry.

If you can find a good quality clip of his funeral, where Hunter’s ashes are launched skywards, by Johnny Depp no less, in a rocket packed with fireworks, watch it and admire a life well lived and sadly missed.

Prego

Art by Swoon

Some breaks tonight, I think. First up is a new release on We Are Alive from Run Riot. He’s back to his breaksy best on this one, offering up two choice cuts for you edification. Both of these will give any dance floor, anywhere on the planet, in any solar system a good hammering. They make me wish I could DJ.

Run Riot – The Life/Rockin To The Massive

Out to buy on December 27th on We Are Live

Get it here

It was Tom Run Riot that put me onto Great Scott and I’m obviously eternally grateful to him for that. A bit like Run Riot, ‘Great’ Scott Novich isn’t getting tied up with genres, getting dumped in a pigeon hole. You’ll find him going all over the place with his production, dubstep, breaks, trip hop, even a bit of chill out. I don’t even know what jerk step is, but he does some and it’s good. I like that producers are stretching themselves and I think that this year has seen more of them doing it. Livens things up a bit.

Youthful Implants – Jah (Great Scott Jerkstep Remix)

Matthew Dunehoo – Don’t Kill Yourself (Great Scotts Get It Over With Remix)

Get over to Great Scott’s and Run Riot’s soundclouds and listen up

This Is Not A Christmas Song

It really isn’t…At all…

However in the very generous spirit of Christmas, Logo are giving it away

http://official.fm/track/186057?size=small&skin=214

 

This IS a Christmas song. It’s by Low and you can play it as you sit, gently weeping, new Christmas jumper covered in the crumbs of plum pudding, stinking of sherry, wondering why you didn’t get exactly what you wanted  – namely love.

{Video Trailer} The Tree of Life

Always had a great admiration for Terrence Malick. His new one starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn looks set to continue his series of intelligent, thought provoking and most of all beautifully shot movies. It’s out in the new year, with Pitt looking on good form as the father and Penn brooding it up, as we like it

{Video} Autokratz – Opposite of Love

JBAG – X Ray Sex

Like Pavlov’s dogs anything Kitsune makes me froth a little bit at the mouth. It’s a problem I have, what can I do?

Add a little JBAG and I’m drooling all over the place (my keyboard is covered in the stuff as I type). I first fell in love with Jbag (Jerry Bouthier & Andrea Gorgerino) when they remixed S’Xpress’s ‘Stupid Litte Girls’ a couple of years back. It’s a perfect slab of electro goodness, from a time when slabs of electro goodness seemed to fall from the sky on an hourly basis. Before Black Eyed Peas and every other auto tuned bastard realised that making it ‘lectro would get you top of the chart.

They’ve remixed Kylie, Sparks and Ladyhawke, but you probably know them best from their association with Kitsune (yeah, another tissue please) and their Kitsune Maison minimixes. The minimixes themselves are works of genius, managing as they do to blend the often disparate sounds of the compliations into one coherent whole.

January 2011 sees them release their first single ‘X Ray Sex’. It is of course ace. Featuring the vocal talents of ex-Ping Pong Bitches, Louise Prey, it’s an uplifting smash, with timely  chimes and disco claps and other JBAG goodness. Love it, love it, love it. You can download the original mix for free at Kitsune Journal and I’ve got an exclusive remix by Jolie Cherie for download

JBAG – X Ray Sex

JBAG – X Ray Sex (Jolie Cherie Remix)

Those are the facts, here are the links-

JBAG Beatport

JBAG Juno

JBAG Amazon

{Video} Goose – Can’t Stop Me Now

Production room somewhere. Megaforce and Goose are sitting round a table and Megaforce are about to pitch a new video idea.

Megaforce – So, right the guy’s climbing up a rock face, with some other guys, ok? And he falls, tired. The other guys take off and when the guy looks up they’ve gone. He carries on climbing and then hands smash out of the rock face and try to grab him…

Goose – Right, so these hands, whose are they?

Megaforce – …they belong to the eye.

Goose – The eye?

Megaforce – He smashes it with a rock.

Goose – Smashes the eye with a rock? Why?

Megaforce – It explodes (simulates explosion with hands). And then the hands that have been holding the guy back help him climb the rest of the way up the rock face.

Goose -…cool. Good…How does it end? Whats at the top of the rock face?

Megaforce – The clip ends with the guy…floating, amongst the brooding clouds…

Goose – …?

Megaforce – Did I mention that we shoot arrows at the guy and that the eye, right, it turns into a mouth?

Goose…the songs going to carry this, isn’t it?

Megaforce – It is the song! Can’t stop…him now. Yeah?

Goose – It’s a metaphor then?

Megaforce – (pleased) Voila!

Disclaimer: Squeaky Sneaker weren’t present at the meeting and know that it might not have gone off exactly like this

Jus’ Chillin’

It’s beautiful around here at the moment. Trees and hedges like towers and walls of crystal, flashing in the cold sunlight. It’s also uncomfortably minus twelve, or something as chillingly mental.

I listen to most music whilst driving. Usually to and from work. It’s my favourite time, I’m alone and confined for at least half an hour at a time and when it’s this chilly the car is at least warm. I was listening to the Sei A remixes today, while driving through this Narnia landscape and it fitted perfectly. Cool as fuck, combining perfectly with the white exterior, this sparce and beautiful techno. I recommend you listen to this while driving through snow.

Sei A – White Rainbow Remixes Part 1

 

Got a really nice email from Footjam, aka Brent Nasternak, the other day with a link to his tunes on Soundcloud. Obviously being nice about my blog is always a good way to get my attention, so I swung by (like Soundcloud is a bar or something) to have a listen.

First word that popped into my head, listening to his stuff was ‘tight’. The word kept floating around, as I tried to find a good way of writing him up. Tight to me is watching a band play a gig and marvelling at the way they keep it all together. They’re totally in sync, playing almost as one unit. Footjam is tight.There’s a lot going on in his productions, some great sounds popping off, but he’s always in control of where the tune is going, with an almost obsessive eye for detail. Footjam is going places, in my very humble opinion. Grab the Pulse EP on Beat Rude Records when it’s released January 10th

Footjam – Sketch

As if that wasn’t enough for Footjam there’s also Grok, released on THaf Records next year. This one’s a proper floor smasher. Keep your eyes on THaf records for news of the release.

Footjam – Grok