Isle Of Flowers

Do Your Thing

Do your thing
Be fancy-free to call the tune you sing.

Don't give up
That's not the way to win a loving cup.

Do your best
and opportunity will do the rest.

Don't give in
capitulation is the greatest sin.

Do what's right
what's right for you, to do with all your might.

Don't regret
What might have been, you might as well forget.

Stand your ground
and while you're standing there, be duty-bound.

Learn to wait
and while you're waiting, learn to concentrate.

Make amends
All enemies I call potential friends.

Calm your fears
and hope to cope at least a hundred years.

Make your mark
If need be, even make it in the dark.

Mum's the word
My sage advice, pretend you haven't heard.

Happy Holidays To All

10 For 2010

1. Matthew Dear - Black City (Ghostly International)
I really needed a good pop album for the summer. This was on repeat for months, and with good reasons: highly addictive song-writing and vocal delivery, surreal sound-design, quirky and great hooks, sorrowful, soulful, dark, funky. And that vocal layering...Up there with my favorite pop albums of all time.

2. Gonjasufi - A Sufi And A Killer (Warp)
I don't know what's the problem with music in these post-internet times, and i will probably never understand. I try to keep myself away from internet hype as much as possible and so far, everything works well in my own little world. Just trusting my instincts, listening rather than reading about music. And my instincts tell me this is music with soul, a rare thing these days.

3. Luke Abbott - Holkham Drones (Border Community)

This summer, i got invited to play at NachtDigital festival, which hosted a *gasp* Border Community all-star lineup. This album wasn't released yet, and i really didn't know what to expect from a Luke Abbott live set. Well, he started playing, and it was magic - electronica that's made to be enjoyed and understood outdoors, his tunes really came alive in a location like Olganitz. British leftfield stuff, mesmerising and awe-inspiring. Easily the festival's highlight set, and with a highly personal sound.

4. Caribou - Swim (City Slang)

Dan Snaith's voice. Dan Snaith's lyrics. Dan Snaith's warm, fuzzy sounds. His retro-modern sensibility. His cross-over with dance music. Highly infectious, grainy dance music. A masterpiece.

5. Actress - Splazsh (Honest Jon's)
Unclassifiable, strange, out-of-time. Like all exciting music should be. His live set has some really out-there tunes, also.

6. James Holden - DJ Kicks (K7)
Not much to say that i haven't said before about Holden's musical vision. He plays exactly the dance music i want to listen to, at home or in a club.

7. Shackleton - Fabric 55 (Fabric)
I could go on and on about Shackleton, his artistic honesty, personality, and musical ideas, but i won't. You can check out his feature in this month's Wire magazine, or this RA interview. Again, this is the kind of music i really want to dance to.

8. Ikonika - Contact, Love, Want, Have (Hyperdub)
Wasn't really feeling this at home, until i saw the girl play a live set.


9. Four Tet - There Is Love In You (Domino)
Wasn't really feeling this either, until i heard the tunes in a club.


10. Emeralds - Does It Look Like I'm Here (Mego)
A modern kosmische album that doesn't really bring anything new - still beautiful music nonetheless.



Other stuff i've been enjoying this year:

Space Dimension Controller - Temporary Thrillz (R&S)
Flying Lotus - Cosmogramma (Warp)
Caribou Vibration Ensemble (Feat Marshall Allen) (self released)
Madlib - The Beat Konducta In Africa (Stones Throw)
Konono no 1 - Assume Crash Position (Crammed Discs)
Legowelt - Bayville Cove (Clone)
Ron Trent - Altered States Blak Tech Society (Prescription)
KXP - KXP (Smalltown Supersound)
Maxmillion Dunbar - Cool Water (Ramp)
Raudive - Chamber Music (Macro)
Surgeon - Fabric 53 (Fabric)
Jeff Mills - The Occurence (Axis)
Lone - Emerald Fantasy Tracks (Magic Wire)
Moritz Von Oswald Trio - Live In New York (Honest Jon's)
Susumu Yokota - Kaleidoscope (Lo Recordings)
Jack Sparrow - Circadian (Tectonic)
Alexander Robotnick And Ludus Pinsky - The Analog Session (This Is Music)
John Roberts - Glass Eights (Dial)
Heinrich Dressel - Vicolo Cieco (MinimalRome)
Optimo - Fabric 52 (Fabric)
Bjorn Torske - Kokning (Smalltown Supersound)
VA - Bangs And Works Vol.1 (Planet Mu)
VA - Scientist Launches Dubstep Into Outer Space (Tectonic)
VA - The Ghost Box Study Series (Ghost Box)

Les Augures

A fantastic new track, and some very wise words.

Some Yo-Yo Stuff

In memory of the captain, two films.

Some Yo-Yo Stuff (Don Van Vliet by Anton Corbijin, 1983)

Captain Beefheart - Under Review (2006)

Don Van Vliet

Captain Beefheart 1941-2010 RIP.

Looking At The Rose

Two mixes i just did for Rodon FM. The first one contains some classic (and some not-so-classic) psychedelia from the sixties and seventies along with a new FH track, while the second features some present-day club music, of the kind i like to play out. Enjoy!

Looking At The Rose Mix - download

1. White Noise - Love Without Sound
2. Country Joe And The Fish - Section 43 (EP Version)
3. Pink Floyd - Remember A Day
4. Gong - Fohat Digs Holes In Space
5. Rudiger Lorenz - Forgotten Islands
6. Ataraxia - Deja Vu
7. Animated Egg - Sock It My Way
8. Fantastikoi Hxoi - Looking At The Rose
9. Silver Apples - I Have Known Love
10. Anthony Moore - A.B.C.D. Goldfish

November Dance Mix - download

1. Q & A - Trap Door
2. Diskjokke - 1987 (Prins Tomas Diskomiks)
3. Diskjokke - Takt Raver
4. Mr. Oizo & Gaspard Auge - Tricycle Express
5. Pachanga Boys - Power
6. Jimmy Edgar - Tell It To The Heart
7. Four Tet - Sing (Extended)

Bad Weeds

Just finished reading the greek version of David Prudhomme's multi-awarded "Rebetiko - Bad Weeds" graphic novel and i can't recommend it enough. Really cheap, too - for a hardcover. From the artist's blog, i picked up a nice BBC documentary on Rebetika narrated by Anthony Quinn that somehow eluded me. Perfect dinner-time watch.

Four Tet

Awesome Four Tet Fact Mix

Time Out Of Joint

"Structurally we can describe something, but the magic lies in the things that you can't describe.. We can describe the parts of a particular track, and loosely what genre it falls into, but what the music is trying to communicate is something very specific to what that person or group of people had in mind or were feeling at that time, and there's a whole range of emotions, there's a whole range of alternative visions or alternative realities, that are being protected in here."

'Time Out Of Joint', Sam Shackleton interview - The Wire, Dec 2010

Letzte Worte

Werner Herzog - Letzte Worte (1968)

Heliotherapy

Thanks to Maritina for this one.