The First Remix!

A few posts ago, I issued a challenge to all and sundry to remix a track of my own creation. Steph, aka Stepharoo, took the challenge and has submitted the first remix!!!

Thanks, Steph!

And inspired by the remix, I made this visual mashup:

I'm a pretty lady!

Stepharoo - Dead Bodies on the Dancefloor (Sophie Ellis Bexter's Corpse Remix)

- Ringo Stalin.

SA Great Pt 1

SA Great Pt. 1
(this post has not been endorsed in any way by the 'SA Great' people, but surely they would if they knew about it)

Chris, over here, recently asked me if there were any Adelaide bands that I could recommend, in anticipation of his impending move down here. The fact that bands form, dissolve, and intertwine with one another in the space of a day means that any list I write would by no means be exhaustive, or even scraping the surface of what goes on in our shadowy little town.

In addition to this, it's pretty difficult actually getting hold of recordings of some of the bands I want to include.

But I'll certainly give it a good ol' college try!!! (click the pics for webpages)

HIT THE JACKPOT

These guys have been around forever. Starting as a two piece, Jess (left) and Kynan recruited Seb and they started trading instruments with alarming regularity, and with equally alarming proficiency. Seb recently moved to London (the subject of the farewell post below) and Scott has picked up the sticks...

Hit The Jackpot - Cats & Dogs

LINDSEY LOW HAND

... and that's Scott on the left, in one of the greatest album covers ever (for the full effect, see the insert and back cover too). Lindsey Low Hand are Scott, Craig and JC. Craig's from Melbourne, so I guess technically they're not an 'Adelaide band' per se, but I don't hold much credence in that whole 'Melb v Adelaide' thing anyway, so for all intents and purposes, here they are.

I guess their track 'The City' would've been more apt for Chris' arrival, but some people would argue that the track I chose instead would be too.

Lindsey Low Hand - Dull & Ordinary

Not me, though. I love this town.

BIRTH GLOW

What on earth do I say about Birth Glow?? They've been labelled all sorts of things, but nothing has really hit the nail on the head. Personally, I think the photo (taken at the tail end of a looong Halloween party) says it all.

Birth Glow - Too Slow

HOME FOR THE DEF

aka Nigel. This man is my hero. I tell this story to anyone who'll listen: I was DJing (in the sense that I put CDs in to the players and hit 'play') at an event and I played 'Harold & Joe', a Cure b-side. Nigel then played a set, one man, a guitar and a 4-track player. I was blown away by the pure creativity and sense of joy and the uniqueness (uniquity?) of it all. Then he dedicated his version of The Cure's 'Caterpillar' to me, for playing Harold & Joe. Well, I was chuffed. At the time, I was looking to form or join a band but no one was really doing what I wanted to do. So I approached Nigel after the show and asked him if he needed a Fruitbat to his Jim-Bob. Thankfully he knew what I was talking about and said yes. This was back in 1999 and we're still doing stuff together.

Here's his Elliot Smith cover, which, in my book, shits all over the original:

Home for the Def - Needle in the Hay

BABYDOLL

(no website, sorry)

Well, image searching for this one was interesting! I didn't have any luck, so I used a sketch I did for their track 'Wagon', which never got used (I was asked to do it, it wasn't an unsolicited crazy fan thing). BabyDoll went through a lot of line-up changes before they finally imploded a few years back. At their farewell show, all of the old members got up onstage and it was a bit of a rockabilly love-in, actually. Lots of fun. BabyDoll delivered some of the greatest shows I've ever seen. The crowd would usually go absolutely nuts and there were singalongs, stage-storming, the whole shemozzle. I don't think I've ever seen an Adelaide band stir up such a frenzy since.

The track I've chosen to use was actually banned from the radio, due to a possible contempt of court issue. Yeah, it's called Snowtown, and they mention barrels but I fail to see how a jury would be affected by it... apart from maybe going into a crazy trance of dancing...

BabyDoll - Snowtown

HORRAHEDD

The elusive Horrahedd! Actually a big beardy three piece, Horrahedd hail from the Barossa region and rarely play live shows, mostly due to the fact that the Wurlitzer is a pain in the bum to move.

'Take The Radio' is one of my all-time favourite songs ever and samples 'The Celluloid Closet' to brilliant effect.

Horrahedd - Take The Radio

FREQUENT SEAHORSE

I haven't actually heard much from the Frequent Seahorse in a while, which is a shame. I remember being at a show they'd organised, which showcased some of Adelaide's bedroom lo-fi electronic acts. I hadn't seen them before and didn't know what to expect. I recall I was conversing with someone in a corner, and I was a wee bit squiffy, and upon hearing Frequent Seahorse starting, I was dumbstruck and interrupted the person who was talking to me and said "Excuse me. I have to leave now. I think I need to see this." and walked away, mid-conversation to watch the band. It was a bit rude but I think it was worth it. I ended up with a copy of their CD in my jacket and listened to it repeatedly over the next few weeks. The above photo was taken at that very same show.

Frequent Seahorse - Moongear

End of Part 1...

- Ringo

Remix Challenge #1

Here's another blatantly self-promotional entry.

I'm a solo musician and also a member of a group called 'The Big Band' (find the myspace here). The rest of the members of the Big Band also have solo projects they work on (you can find them through the Big Band myspace).

A short while ago, Steev expressed an interest in remixing one of my tracks, and I thought maybe I should open the track up to the public at large and let anyone who was interested remix it, like I did with The Dead Trilogy.

So here's 'Dead Bodies on the Dancefloor'.



The individual components (sorry about the vocals, I really should re-record them) (.rar format).

The original track (vocal demo).

Oh, and there's no time limit, and I'll post the remixes here as they come in.

Cheers!

EDIT: the song is 165bpm, according to Fruity Loops.

- Ringo Stalin

Dedication of kinda random songs

One of my good-time buddies is leaving Adelaide to live in the UK for an indefinite time. The chap in question is Seb, and you can find some of his brilliant artwork here.

I now dedicate some songs to Seb. Whether he likes it or not.

Firstly, this is one of the saddest songs ever, especially when you consider it was the last song, on Warren Zevon's last album, 'The Wind'. Warren died in 2003, of mesothelioma, which also killed Steve McQueen. Warren said, on his last Letterman appearance, "I may have made a tactical error in not going to a physician for 20 years." More about Warren here.

Warren Zevon - Keep Me In Your Heart

Next comes 'This Is England', which shares the name with a recent film that Seb tells me I'd really like. I dunno if that's true, but this song is great. And it's about England! That's where Seb's going!

The Clash - This Is England

And now a remix/mash thing by Instamatic, of the previous track. I found this one on 'This One's for Joe', which contains "reinterpretations, remixes and mashups of great Strummer tracks", in dedication of Joe, on the 5th anniversary of his death, and is available here. (I plan on doing a post about Joe soon, so stay tuned for that one)

Instamatic - English Ghost

...which lead me to think of probably my favourite mashup at the moment. From what I can tell, you can put Ennio Morricone's 'Ecstasy of Gold' with anything and it'll sound amazing. Jay-Z also uses it on 'Blueprint 2', on Blueprint 2: The Curse. But this one's Nas' 'One Mic', and doesn't include Jay's awful Austin Powers impersonation (honestly, what the fuck was Hov thinking??).

DJ Erb - Ecstasy of Gold (Ennio Morricone vs. Nas)

And from there, I decided to include this Morricone track from 'Una Pistola Per Ringo', a perfect example of Spaghetti Western music, with its awkward Italo-English vocals by Maurizio Graf and equally as awkward lyrics ("Rivers, you know how is the story..."???). And hopefully when Seb hears it, he thinks of me ;)

Ennio Morricone (ftg. Maurizio Graf) - Angel Face

Lastly, I decided to include a very very very rare track, by a pairing that may not have even existed in the first place. I like to keep a little mystery to it, but I will say: two members of Sound of Mercy Killing are responsible.

The Problem with Growing Boys - Licks on the Bowl

Bye, Seb!!!


Keep licking that metaphorical Glenn McGrath Hickory Sauce Bottle!!!

- Ringo Stalin

Echoes Nobody Hears

A quick note to the faithful...

You might be aware that since 2000, Pearl Jam have released "official bootlegs" of (most) of their live concerts.

Well, I make compilations of 'em for those that don't feel like wading through all 246 of them (and counting).

You might like them... or you might very likely wonder why anyone would bother (I know I do).

You might even think "omg pearl jam, wtf?! those guys are still around?!"

Whichever, feel free to drop in if you want.

Echoes Nobody Hears

Spencer.

The Dead Trilogy

Okay, I'm kind of cheating here and what's worse, I'm self-promoting in the same post. I'm not going to apologise because I'm pretty certain I'll do it again at a later date.

This is an compilation/remix/mashup album I released via myspace.

And here's what I wrote on that page.

About The Dead Trilogy:

In 2001-2002, I had completed three songs that I wanted to release. Not wanting to release an EP, I thought I'd ask various friends if they could remix the originals, by providing them with the individual bits n' pieces that I used to make the originals. The remixers never heard the originals and were allowed to do whatever they wanted to do. The only thing I told them about the songs was that they were very loosely based around the concept of 'Night' (Force of Fear), 'Dawn' (Sunrise) and 'Day' (Wake Up!), and obviously referencing the original George A Romero 'Dead' films.

Eventually I received all of the submissions and compiled them onto two discs. Then numerous factors conspired to delay the release (poverty, third-rate computer equipment, laziness) and the compilation was essentially lost. After discovering it again recently, and re-listening to it, I think it still sounds great and people deserve to hear it.

Thanks to the artists that contributed:

Barbarian Rep., Belittle League, Blanche Devereaux & the Miserable Whores, Groverling, Home for the Def, Horrahedd, Matt's Little Brother, Matte Black, No Through Road, Onaka, Spencer Webb and Toit.

And especially those that don't even know they did. These unknowing participants include:

Siouxsie & The Banshees, Danny Elfman, Einsturzende Neubauten, Front 242, New Order, Faith No More, Buzzcocks, The Easybeats, Public Enemy, Pop Will Eat Itself, Aaliyah & Timbaland, and the composers of the following TV themes: Gimme A Break, The Muppets, Unsolved Mysteries. There are probably more.

Extra special thanks to Vincent Price and George A Romero.


The Dead Trilogy Disc One

Enjoy!

-Ringo Stalin

Electric Mud...

...by Muddy Waters is the most AWESOME album ever.
This is something I have just discovered yesterday and
feel it is my civic duty to keep you informed of new
developments in awesomeness.

It's the record where Chess Records had the "whacky"
idea to save Muddy's declining record sales by throwing him
in the studio with a bunch of young psychedelic-blues rock
upstarts and getting him to recut new versions of his old
blues standards. He later basically called the record a
piece of shit and a sell out...but it's GENIUS!

I've uploaded the whole album to Megaupload here.

Totally sample-worthy drum breaks on there too,
apparently Public Enemy have been nicking stuff off
of it for years.

Spenno.