I Am Still Here

A trip to Real Groovy last week came up trumps. That said, if it was my actual job the hourly rate would be pretty low. I listen to records for four hours and only selected 5 albums. That said quality over quantity. Was this selection quality? Time will tell.

First up, Vince Guaraldi's Oh Good Grief (1968). I have a weakness for Guaraldi and his whole Peanuts output. I think it is the groovy syncopation. This album is a little unusual in that while he is playing the classic Peanuts tunes he lays an electric harpsichord over the top (listen here).

Next up is Jan Hammer's Oh Yeah? (1976) I am seeing some kind of trend - cartoon cover, punctuated titles. The music falls into that mid 70s mess of prog, jazz and rock that I love. A couple of listening options to get a taste: Oh Yeah? and One to One.

Listening to album reminded me that I had another album with Jan Hammer from around the same time, David Earle Johnson's Time is Free (1977). Listen to Grandma's House, especially from 2:10 where it turns into a freaky echo jam.

Following on in a jazz rock vein I also picked up Michel Colombier's self titled album (1979). I didn't know anything about this guy but he is in good company on the album - Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Tom Scott, Steve Gadd, Airto Moreira etc. Sample listen: Do It. This is probably the pick of the album. Not too bad though.

And just in case you thought I was only about the jazz I also picked up some disco. Silver Convention (1975). The copy that I have has no record company label info and the back cover is very contrasty. I suspect it is a bootleg. Sample track: Fly Robin Fly. According to wikipedia this track carries the distinction of being a Billboard chart topper with one of the fewest nmber of unique words: six. Apparently it is sampled by a few of those hip hop people too (check out the Silver Convention video!!)

And finally I picked up The Legendary Taj Mahal (1981). As much as I love Taj I do not have anything of his on vinyl - until now. Satisfied and Tickled Too is my all time fav. Let's take that record for a drive.

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Got a bunch of records on Saturday morning, too many to mention, but have a look anyway. this lot is from the first stop:



Bit of a Spanish thing going on. Rosana (self titled) had this funky number on it (excuse the poor recording, its about as quality as my photography):

This bunch from an unexpected spot, but i had an inkling and it paid off! indie galore:

annnnd these not so great ones:

(jack tempchin is from the 'funky kings' and like the 'funky kings' is not all that great).

It was a good morning, but now i've got too many records that i'm not sure if i'll listen to often enough to justify keeping. There is another record fair next month.. hmmm...
sorry for the brief update, don't seem to have enough time to write this thing up proper.

Four Crates: Episode Ten

Howdy team. Man it's been a while. You've been in the back of my mind but I had been flat tack with the release of my EP. So my updates may be few and far between for the next few whiles. Rest assured I haven't picked up any new records in a while but the four crates stay calling me. Let's go!

The Mace Brothers - The Mace Brothers

Australian Gospel cheese at its best. Some good samples to grab on this. Chapel Records is a new one on me but I have to keep an eye out for them. I made these two beats with my youngest, Otto, on my lap so both of the beats have been named by him: Naughty Song & My Mirror.



T-Connection - T-Connection

I've had this for the longest time and only really kept it for a vocal sample at the very start of the record, but I thought I better give it another go. Managed by Don Taylor, T-Connection where making misleading funk music straight out of Florida on this one. Just when you think there's going to be some ill funk breaks and liner notes breaking down their astrological signs, you get bummed out. Still, I managed this one:



Carol O'Halloran - Jazzercise

I kept this because it has the instruction booklet, a poster and an order form for the leotards. How can you not love that? Plus Carol is getting down on the cover (3rd pose on the right is me after eight Mac's Gold and some Jefferson Starship songs). Love the Kiwi accent. I wanted to file it away so I had to make something. This is pretty wack but it still counts. Right? It still counts?



Andrae Crouch & The Disciples - Take the Message Everywhere

Yo, take the message EVERYWHERE, son. EVERYWHERE. When you see black men on the front of a Light Record LP you think "This could really be something!". Gospel style gospel and maybe a Motown session band brought in to help out? Man, anything is possible. Think of the coolest this album could be, OK got it? It's about a 7 out of that. 7/Imagined 10. In other news, the 'Auto Smile Recognition' function on the camera had a field day with this cover.



Yeom Kwang - Singing Mission


I've used this before and thus, I'm allowed to keep it. But I was needle-dropping it and picked out two good samples. The one used below and another one that seemed like some sort of Kanye West joint but it requires a lot of hard work. Another time. For now, check out this beat. The sample is reversed and I named it 'Eesop' like some sort of Dilla trick where he makes you think the sample is saying 'Player'. Legend.




Nice one. Thanks for your time. I'll be back. Not soon, but when I do, there'll be some new beats and pieces. Many thanks to my fellow Dollar Branders for keeping things going.

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Diggin' at an "antique fair" which turns out is a large room at the Avondale racecourse which they open up every couple of weeks. Some cool stuff as far as collectables go, and pretty fairly priced. Soo much i would've liked to buy, but i still gotta have money to eat, heh.

(not my photo) Deane Waretini - Waretini.
I got a weak spot for New Zealand records. I'll often pick up ones i haven't heard before out of curiosity. Most times i'm disappointed, and in the case of this one, a lil, but not much. its got a couple of great tracks on it.

(not my photo) Picked this one up for the same reason as the last. On the back cover it states it "may have well been called "Go Modern Maori"". This one is a keeper, highlights include nice horns to sample, and this track:

(i couldn't find an image for the album i got, and my camera skills are really bad, so this cover is a stand in). Amral's Trinidad Cavaliers Steel Orchestra - Latin In Steel.
I picked this one up because i can't get enough of those steel drums at the moment. But i got more than i hoped for with this album. My advice for anyone diggin' for gold, pick up any of Amral's albums and you will strike it rich (not financially speaking, i haven't looked into that). After listening to this album twice in a row, i looked on the web to hear what other magic they had made, and hot damn! These guys are on my must find list for real. See if you can find their songs "90% of me is you" and their cover of "The World Is A Ghetto" and you'll see what i'm talking about. On the album i picked up this was one of the gems on it:

  

I've gone blank to what Beastie Boys song sampled this. Anyone?

Vanilla Fudge - Vanilla Fudge.

You ever heard that crate diggin' anthem by Madlib/The Lootpack called 'Crate Diggin'? Well if not, go listen. If you have, then it might be of interest that it samples a song of this album. This was pretty beat up, but i decided it'd still be worth getting just to hear what it is. I'd have to say, it is... pretty fucking dope. A break-rock must have.

Yellow Man - One In A Million.
One in a million is the ratio to which i come across dubby reggae albums when i'm trawling. This 'one' is my new favourite, it probably will remain in a pile closest to the turntable for some lounge room dancing, or BBQ background. Reggae always puts me in a good mood, and hearing this album for the first time i was feeling soo high. If you don't have it, get it. I guarantee it 100% niceness.

Tom Tom Club - Close To The Bone.

They put the funky in Talking Heads. Then they left and started their own club which was first named the "No David Byrne Allowed Club" before a legal battle saw them become the Tom Tom Club. (I just made that up, but maybe some lazy person like myself will steel that "fact" and put it in their own blog, just like i stole most of the images in this blog).

There was one more, but i'm outta time.