Category Archives: Media

Customizable Vinyl Graphics

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Color me…amused. The Vinyl Record Generator lets you plug in your own custom text and get one of these babies auto-generated for you. The image is free because they are hawking these as custom print designs for keychains, coffee cups, three-inch stickers, and much more. Pretty sweet if you have a gimmick and need some customized album-related merch. The only thing they DON’T offer is an actual vinyl album, but the three inch sticker would fit nicely over that crappy old REO Speedwagon record in your garage. I am sorely tempted to get the above printed as a T-Shirt (this service is also available at the Vinyl Record Generator) but chances are I’ll run up a Turntabling.net coffee cup instead…this site is a great idea.

Ragel Against The Machine

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I was so pleased with myself when I came up with that headline that I had to use it here. Jon Ragel, AKA BoyEatsDrumMachine has been doing pure mad mashups with Talking Heads Vs. Michael Jackson and The Cure…except these mashups are LIVE and feature Gang of Four’s Dave Allen on bass (ver’ nice) and Benjy Rickard on guitar and synth. The mashups have Ragel on vox and vinyl…tasty.

I tend to latch on to little things in the mix, and Dave Allen’s bass punctuations in the Psycho Killer riffs are sharp. It’s stuff like that that keeps the mix interesting. Also nice–Benji Rickard’s great minimalist one-note guitar lines. Jon Ragel keeps it real by not trying to hit those Psycho Killer high “aiieee aiiieee aiieeee aieeee” notes–wise move, my man. Not even DB hisself could hit ’em consistently.

The first one of these live mashups was fun–I listened and thought, “hell yeah!” but the new one, Billie Jean/Psycho Killer is nothing short of brilliant. The Billie Jean bass riff is massive in the right hands, and it is definitely in the right hands here. This is sweet stuff and it is FREE. And how about that image? The Billie Jean Byrne graphic is just sick, wrong and I wish it were poster size.

Pampelmoose blogged it here and Jon Ragel also has it as a freebie at his BEDM official site. Don’t forget to check out the other sonic treats at BEDM as there’s much to feast on. The P-Moose site also has a healthy stack of mp3 goodies.

King Britt Interview

Interviews, Media, , ,

I’m not a huge Digable Planets fan, but when I interviewed King Britt for Gearwire.com back in 2006, he was great to talk to. Full of stories, advice for new DJs and a lively personality all round. I’d check him spinning anytime. My favorite part of the discussion is when Britt laments the fact that the joy of searching for those obscure tracks is gone with the advent of instant download gratification. Too true, KB, too true! Seeking and finding are half the fun of vinyl. Downloading, not so much.

King Britt is naturally a source of interest for budding DJs all over the globe, so I thought I drop Part One and Part Two of my chat with KB, and throw in a little YouTube love with the man besides. I didn’t have anything to do with the clip below, it wash shot at the Novara Jazz Fest in Italy earlier in ’08.


The Mops: Psychadelic Freakouts from the Far East

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My first introduction to this crazy Japanese “Group Sound” band was in the extremely mental Hanzo The Razor series starring Shintaro Katsu. The Mops did great, cheeseball 70s soul/disco sounds for the three movies released in the USA, and ever since I’ve been on a quest to find more by this far out group who cycle between The Strawberry Alarm Clock and Jefferson Airplane extremes to the aforementioned disco vibrations. Check out this brain-twistingly interesting clip and wonder why you never bothered to check YouTube for such OUT THERE goodness. I may have to go all the way to Japan to track down the vinyl for this, but it would be worth it, especially when armed with Julian Cope’s JapRockSampler and all the bands mentioned in that one.