Prince Alla - roots hero...

I don't really know what's going on in this video but it is good to see Keith Blake aka Prince Alla doing his thing with so much energy and the positive good humour for which he is renouned and respected. Raspect, Prince Alla - I will record with you one day, fate willing...

Here's is a Soul of Anbessa promo video that is a nice little tribute to Prince Alla at his home in Kingston. All still shots but the soundtrack is the Prince in excellent voice - refreshing and exciting to hear when so many of his contemporaries are either deceased or are no longer as able as he to sing so sweetly.

Now this just blew me away - the man is such a natural performer - I usually don't go for such improvised acoustic stuff, but this is exceptional:

I think this is a high point at which to stop. respect to the man and artist Prince Alla - a heavenly voice, vastly underrated and unfortunately not often enough recorded back in the day...

Gregory Isaacs & The Roots Radics The Tube 1983

I watched the Tube quite often back then and I don't remember this at all - I must have missed it. Well I haven't really missed it at all now have I because I just watched it. Interesting that the sound quality is quite good for a You Tube video. There is actually some bass happening.
Not the most compelling track on the 'Night Nurse' album by any means but nice to see Gregory and the Radics performing live in this video:


and just for contrast here is Gregory performing Slavemaster from the Rockers film. Nice suit:

The Incomparable Culture in the Studio

Nice tank-top there Joseph.
My admiration for the works of Joseph Hill only increases as time goes on. Sadly he passed on recently, bless him.

Clint Eastwood and General Saint with Roots Radics 1980 video

The sound quality on this is poor but the music picks up a bit as it progresses. I've known this riddim for a long time as a Scientist Dub on the 'Wins The World Cup' album (I think) - a nice spacey almost Kraftwerk-like riddim:

A Huge Vinyl Archive Up for Grabs - only $3M!

Sir, may we please have a detailed inventory of your catalogue contents?
This is an awful lot of vinyl but you have to wonder how much of it is genuinely valuable. Clearly all of it should be archived and should find a safe fungus-free home, but it should also all be heard.
A setback here would be that though not available digitally in any form, most of it is under copyright and presumably pristine copies of each of those albums reside with the record companies that released them in the first place...

but, many of those record companies no longer exist and these in fact may be the only copies that have not been consigned to landfill or are not so damaged as to be unplayable.

So come on somebody. Buy the man's records. For our children and children who have children etc.

Seriously though, doesn't this pique your interest? All it would take is a syndicate of 3 million people giving one $ each to relieve Paul of his life's burden. OK that doesn't work...

sorry Paul you'll just have to give it all away and suffer terribly from your ailment. Lay off the diet soda, OK? It's as bad for you as the corn syrup shit...

I hope my facetiousness is taken in the best possible way.

Any ideas, anyone?
Can't seem to embed this so here's the link for as long as it lasts

iDrum for iPhone and iPod Touch?

This looks like more fun than it has a right to be. An 808 in yer pocket anyone?
Still, until Apple opens up the iPhone to other phone companies besides AT&T there is no way I'll be getting one.

Respect to you Ronnie, the world is a poorer place without you

Ronnie Drew died a few days ago...instead of attempting to do the man justice in my own inadequate words I'll link a few vids of some of his best moments - of which there were many.


This one is not great audio or video quality but it really shows the mans humour and charisma:


this one I remember lucidly from the time - a rare reason to watch Top of the Pops!


One of my all time favourites:


This is bizarre (great song of course):


Here's one you can dance to even if you have no sense of rhythm...again...the Ronnie Drew charisma, wit and unmistakable vocal delivery:



there is no video for this one - just audio - caution! LOUD! This is a great song (Ronnie's voice is almost klaxon-like in its tone...excellent!):

Russian rip-off digital distribution services

I just came across this story on Torrent Freak. They have the wrong end of the stick entirely on this issue. To the best of my knowledge these services are not paying the artists at all.

Eating Betty music is available from these services but they (mp3Skyline etc.) are not licensed to sell this music.

This is just pure badness.

New Prices for ACEtone CDs and downloads

Dear readers, via CDBaby.com ACEtone Studio / ACEtone Records is offering Eating Betty in Dub, Reverbalism and Kratzen Fur Das Ebenleben at new affordable prices. This applies to both physical CDs and downloads (from CDBaby.com - I have no control over iTunes et al).

I hope this encourages those of you who have been put off buying to put your hands in your pocket...

Respect...

Eating Betty's 'Love and Justice Dub' on Echo Beach Dub Radio

Respect to the man they call Turntable Terrorist.
Here's the Echo Beach radio show from August 8 2008. And isn't it so sweet to be followed by Cornell Campbell's 'I 'art is Clean'? I am humbled...
...I just realised that the good TTT also headlined his show with the same track on the previous week. Nice!

so here's the August 1 show:



And here's the August 8 show with Eating Betty followed by the Mighty Gorgon...

Show Me Your Backside!

To give better praise and credit to DJ Frank's Voodoo Funk project I'm linking it here again.

http://voodoofunk.blogspot.com

Lots of surprising, unusual and gratifying images, mp3 downloads and generally vibrantly wonderful African vinyl rips...and the pic here and the subject are really red herrings. I'm sure I'll treat this greatness with more respect when time permits - but this is well nice for now...

In Search of African Vinyl

I don't know much about this film/music project apart for this trailer, but it looks to be intriguing and very enjoyable:

update: more here http://www.trotroproductions.com/Works-in-Progress.html
and Frank has his own blog here:
http://www.voodoofunk.blogspot.com/

Jamaica has still not been depleted of its vinyl musical treasures from decades past (the major difference being that in JA they are still repressing vinyl from original masters - in Africa this seems to be not the case), and it appears the time is right to save as much as possible of the vinyl output from the African nations - I would guess that the hot period for this Frank guy in the video would be the mid to late 60s and early to mid 70s. What I've heard from that time can be quite mind blowing.

The suggestion by Frank that that all western music comes from African music is a bit silly - but the fusion of existing folk songs, rhythms and melodies with imported funk and soul from the US and European pop that these African musicians made often transcended and in some ways improved on its influences. Reggae did more or less the same thing which is probably why I personally see and hear the parallel. And then some of it is just plain original and ground breaking (JA or Africa!)

Looking forward to the full length film whenever it turns up.
Looking at Frank's blog it is clear that the man is very much healthily obsessed with this music and I find the enthusiasm and the artwork for the albums and the sheer scale of his endeavour a great encouragement to hear more African music of the time.

Much to his credit Tom at Music Thing linked this video back in July. Thanks Tom.

Note: vinyl is apparently virtually indestructible certainly compared to tape or hard drives, so if you have anything nice and rare, hold on to it and look after it. And rip it (high quality) and share it...

Playlist.com?

These people Playlist.com are offering ringtones of the ACEtone Allstars - I don't think they should be doing this - even in the unlikely event that someone might want to pay for such a ringtone - how are they going to pay ACEtone Records? I have no agreement with them that I'm aware of but in these days of digital distribution it is possible that I overlooked their name in some agreement I made.
Being a 'beta' and pretty new it appears I have no aggreement with them about these ringtones for sale...

The ALLstars tracks are not yet with CDBaby or iTunes so I really have no idea how they think they are entitled to sell ringtones.

Note the fact that there is no way of contacting Playlist.com by e-mail and I don't think I really want to call here * to contest what is in principle important, but in the case of ACEtone Records, insignificant:

*Farbod Tojarieh
Copyright Agent
Project Playlist, Inc.
9300 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 200
Beverly Hills, CA 90212

Or send a fax to the following address:

310-278-7641
ATTN: Project Playlist Inc., Copyright Agent

Or by Phone:

310-479-3202

I expect/suspect Farbod is not only the 'copyright agent' (whatever the f**k that means) but the webmaster and chief bottle washer too - the general factotum - the grand poobah of Playlist.com.

The little that this bothers me is more because of the other good people playing on these tracks besides myself who might rightfully find fault with unauthorized ringtones of their musical efforts FOR SALE - when they have happily acquiesced to giving full tracks away for free at my instigation. Not quite right is it? Another skewed picture...

If Farbod would like to explain, I would be happy to hear from him.

Dub the Old Way

It is very interesting to see this kind of thing - so, big up to BattleJam who has replicated and built upon the sounds and techniques of the greats - this guy has skilz - yes indeed. One thing though - a REAL bass line would improve this kind of stuff very much.
I would be happy to provide one when I get the new flat wound strings on the bass.

Enjoy this - it is actually very good - a spring reverb and a space echo would complete the picture.
I just love to feel a bit envious of people like this. I want your board man!

Never let us forget the Korean Dub konnection

nice drums...but is he really a Korean guy? Anyone? I know from personal experience that reggae and Dub are a big deal in Korea...your answers on a postcard...

Japro-Funk? Japonica don't really know what they are doing...

...but it's better than they think!
It goes on a bit but actually sounds way better than I would have expected:

Media Obsolescence

This story and variations on the theme crop up more often that is really necessary.
Strangely no mention of the mould that can get under the plastic on optical disks...or was that the hyped-up scourge of some three or so years ago (5, 6 years ago?)? Don't hear much about it these days.

A lot in this article is true and to the point but typically this commentator offers no suggestions for a solution. More of a jaded old gripe than a helpful article. We are at the mercy of this monster we have created. Help us oh prophets of ages past who had the good sense to make information permanent. Send another Moses, with the internet etched on tablets of hardest obsidian - carved into the stone by the hand of god his self, verily...

I do need to correct this oaf on one point. I bought a turntable just 5 or 6 years ago - specifically a DJ type turntable and believe it or not - it will play 78s - so the fact that this guy threw away 'valuable' 78s is preposterous. And if they were valuable he would have been able to sell them on e-bay. Perhaps they were just old 78s nobody wanted and not actually valuable at all.

That simplicity is threatened, even in the publishing industry. I recently completed a book, printed it and gave the manuscript to my agent. To give it to a publisher, she wanted it in a digital version, so I gave her a Word file. When she opened it on her computer, it was full of garbage characters. There had been some problem in the document conversions among several programs. I couldn't fix it.

Maaaan, is this guy a Luddite! And the publisher had no clue what she was doing. And why was he submitting a 'Word' file to a publisher?! 'there had been some problem in the document conversions among several programs' - how's that for technical jargon!!! Me no understand - too...tech...nik...al. If I were he, I'd be embarrassed to admit such unforgivable ignorance. Just ask someone who knows about these things before you go making an arse of yourself on the internet!!!

Really, people need to read the stuff they write before they publish. Or perhaps not - it is all ephemeral and no one will know 20 years from now that Russell Smith is a clod.

New Eating Betty track 'Love and Justice Dub 'pon di radio

At 19:42 minutes you can hear a new track titled 'Love and Justice Dub' from the forthcoming 'Every Spoil a Dub' album by Eating Betty - here -
Many thanks once again to Dr. Strangedub for his continuing support and for playing Eating Betty so often on his radio show 'The Echo Chamber' KFAI-FM (90.3 Minneapolis / 106.7 St.Paul, Minnesota.

Dr. Strangedub's myspace page
Archive of 'Echo Chamber Shows'
KFAI audio streams

Big up Dr. Strange Dub!!!