dirt mixtape one.

here for your enjoyment is the first installment in a new series of mixtapes of basically anything we're into at the time.

the sun's revealed itself today after what seems like about 3 years and i'm just starting to feel like i'm recovering from what may or may not have been swine flu. so stick this on and share in my optimism for the long overdue english summer.

download dirt mixtape one.

TRACKLISTING:

1. Talkin' Bout My Baby - Fatboy Slim

2. Velvet - The Big Pink

3. True Affection - The Blow

4. Dialogue from Kids

5. Fools - The Dodos

6. Everybody's Down - No Age

7. Black Rice - Women

8. Dialogue from Psychoville

9. Titus Andronicus - Titus Andronicus

10. Breed - Nirvana

11. Six Pack - Black Flag

12. Dialogue from Dazed & Confused

13. I'm Just A Guy - Alton Ellis

14. Little Lion Man - Mumford & Sons

15. Hellhole Ratrace - Girls

16. Dialogue from The Wackness

17. Walkabout (Feat. Noah Lennox) - Atlas Sound

18. Please Venus - Golden Silvers

19. Birds & Bones - The Bear Around Your Neck

20. St. Christopher - Jamie T

21. Guilty - George Shearing

back to life, back to reality.

i touched down back on english soil yesterday afternoon after benicassim, possibly the best holiday of all my nineteen years (sorry jake). physically exhausting and financially devastating it may have been, but even hurricanes and bush fires didn't manage to dampen our spirits as we were treated to some of the best live performances i've seen to date. 

oasis were predictably epic. really tough call between their set of swaggering singalong bangers and blur's glasto performance. 2manydjs played a pretty much identical set to their glasto one, except this time it was on benicassim's main stage, so that was pretty insane. lykke li was my surprise favourite of the week though, if only for the moment she broke into can i kick it by a tribe called quest, one of my favourite hip hop tracks of all time. i went fucking sick.

other highlights included aeroplane, birdy nam nam, naive new beaters and no reply.

returning to preston life is a pretty daunting prospect after 2 weeks of unbridled fun and sun, but helping ease me back to normality will be the bear around your neck, a two-piece folk outfit from garstang, near preston. anyone in the area tonight should get down to bitter suite in preston to witness their hypnotic blend of acoustic twiddles and enchanting, harmonic vocals. i love how their songs all have a really natural feel to them, and they make me want to take up residence in my treehouse.

their new ep no eyed deer is streaming over on the sticks and stones blog. also check out their myspace for more material.

left my wallet in estacio sants.

yesterday we arrived at barcelona's estacio sants train station, exhausted after about 394723974 of being awake and travelling thousands of miles, ready to collapse in the 2 star luxury of albergue studio youth hostel. however, LITERALLY 5 MINS after we set foot off the coach, i found that my wallet had mysteriously disappeared out of my rucksack pocket. which means that all my euros, my bank card, blackwell's member card (i had loads of points too!), n.u.s, jimmy hat, and i.d are now no longer in my possession and some lucky spaniard is blowing 200 euros on sangria and heroin. it didn't help that the spanish police force are possibly the least competent and least helpful people in the actual world.

i didn't think i'd be able to relate to q-tip again after his showcase of new, really quite shocking material at glastonbury. now i can totally relate to his plight in el segundo. anyway, microwave lasagne and 27 cent beer calls, laters!

highbrow inanity part one.

sometimes, i wish i was this cool. courtesy of latfh

pretension is shit. a lot of the time really good things get ruined because too many smug twats like to parade around declaring how much they love that bit in that film more than you but its not as good as the book which they've read 27 times. to hit back at this i've decided to start a feature where basically i make inane comments about high culture.

VIVRE SA VIE

french fittie gets pimped out, talks about philosophical shit with some old geezer, then gets shot for trying to break out of da game. anna karina is well fit and i'd definitely pay to have sex with her.

NAKED LUNCH

"you got a problem with my buddy? i'll castrate the shit out of you"

guy takes a fuckload of smack and writes about all the crazy shit he sees. i mean he seriously goes crackers.

extract (verbatim): 

'Arab rioters yip and howl, castrating, disemboweling, throw burning gasoline ... Dancing boys striptease with intestines, women stick severed genitals in their cunts, grind, bump and flick it at the man of their choice ... Religious fanatics harangue the crowd from helicopters and rain stone tablets on their heads, inscribed with meaningless messages ... Leopard Men tear people to pieces with iron claws, coughing and grunting ... Kwakiutl Cannibal Society initiates bite off noses and ears ... A Coprophage calls for a plate, shits on it and eats the shit, exclaiming "Mmmm, that's my rich substance"'

oooo mr burroughs tell me a bedtime story.

the dopest ghost in town.

so this week the north west has decided to fuck with our heads and go all tropical. i open my blinds in the morning to blissful sunshine ready to hit the park and by the time i'm having breakfast there'll be an ACTUAL THUNDERSTORM. this never happens around here. extremes of weather are not usually something you'll find in the north west (votes for extreme right-wing parties however...)

anyway this means i've not bothered braving the confusing, nasty outdoors, and instead found solace in the crumb-laden sheets of my ridiculously comfy bed and our best friend the internet. i thought i'd share my highlights of the past few days with you.

KIDS

this film is so fucking cool. ok its mostly about aids and nasty shit but it got me right in the mood for summer. now i just want to live in new york and chill with my homies on the park with blunts in rotation and skateboard all day. if someone could sort that out for me that would be excellent.

PLATFORM

http://www.readplatform.com/

ive spent a lot of time on this site the past couple of days. its basically like vice magazine except not as, ermmm, cunty (is that a word? it should be). still a few shit pretentious articles but the majority are genuinely funny and well written. here's a few personal favourites:

The Worst Feelings In The World

90s Kids Shows Were Scary

Staying In On The Internet

Things To Do Before You're 21

TOTALLY BONE

http://totallybone.blogspot.com/

a blog written by a friend of a friend and his girlfriend. loads of hilarious and intelligent articles and plenty of hatin' on american apparel, which can never be a bad thing. 

FLIP STUFF OFF

http://flipstuffoff.wordpress.com/

pretty self-explanatory really. simple but really makes me laugh!

LITERAL ALBUM COVERS

http://www.funnyordie.co.uk/blog/posts/15153

continuing the trend of simple silly things. pretty bloody funny though.

HOLLA DADDY

http://www.holladaddy.com/

winding people up on dating sites. i particularly recommend the first one (with victor). me and my mate jake did this once but went nowhere near the lengths this guy goes to. there really are some freeeeaks in the world. bit mean but fucking hilarious.

JAH RASTAFARI

this guy is classic. i don't think anybody has ever been quite as happy as him ever. a role model for us all.

PETER SERAFINOWICZ

http://www.peterserafinowicz.com/

again not much to say on this. just a few funny bits and pieces by mostly british comedians. check out his and matt berry's twitterband project. clever shit!

there's more but i'm getting bored. all i'll say is LISTEN TO GOLDEN SILVERS THEY WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE.

diggin' for dirt glastonbury awards 2009.

this tuesday i returned to sanity and hygiene from the mud, music and madness of glastonbury festival. needless to say it was fucking amazing. there were far too many highlights to choose from so instead of just listing who i saw i've decided to give awards based on categories. i have too much time on my hands. 

BEST NEWCOMER: GOLDEN SILVERS

i was completely blown away by this north london trio, who write beautiful harmonic love songs full of mythology and synths. if you haven't heard them yet i strongly suggest you download their album true romance. literally the best album ive heard this year. im excited about what else golden silvers have up their dapper sleeves and you should be too. here's their new single arrows of eros and a link to their album as a special treat. christ i love this band.

golden silvers - true romance
BEST DANCE ACT: 2MANYDJS

i've seen 2manydjs a couple of times before, but the belgian boys of soulwax fame always manage to really make a crowd go insane. their performance in glasto's east dance tent was the best i've ever seen them, maybe due to the mind-boggling av set they had projected on an enormous screen looming over them. the finale (a blur of nirvana and confetti explosions) was bloody mental. more exercise than ive had in a long time. hopefully they can match this performance in a couple of weeks when im basking in the spanish sun of benicassim. cannot wait.

BEST ALTERNATIVE ACT: JAMIE T

jamie's another artist i've followed for a long time. his songs sound like what being young feels like and he's a pro at making messy summer bedroom bangers. he played a fair bit of new material at glasto and i'm psychhhhed for his new album which should be out in the next couple of months. for now though here's his new sticks and stones ep and the video for the title track. makes me really wanna go out with my mates and cause mischief.

Jamie T - Sticks & Stones EP (2009) (rapidshare)

BEST HEADLINER: BLUR

seeing any headlining act on glastonbury's pyramid stage is always epic and blur were no exception. even damon albarn was overwhelmed by it all and broke down in tears during in the end. i've never been a die-hard blur fan like a couple of the mates i was with, but singing along to britpop with hundreds of thousands of people is always fantastic.  a fantastic end to a fantastic week.

sounds of summer.

the boys over at palms out sounds blog have been putting out jaunty sun-soaked mixes by big names for a couple of months now as part of their sounds of summer series. here's a few of my favourites so far.

A1 Bassline

Urchins

Sidechains

Louis La Roche

and in a similar vein here's one i rustled up this afternoon:

Summer Jubilee

Tracklisting:

1. Jubilee - Kormac

2. LSD - A. Skillz

3. Dub Be Good To Me - Beats International

4. Music Takes Me Up (Feat. Alice Russell) - Mr Scruff

5. Terrapin - Quantic Soul Orchestra

6. Libella Swing - Parov Stelar

7. The Bomb! - The Bucketheads

8. The Bomb! (Burns Remix) - The Bucketheads

9. Ultraviolence (Vitalic Remix) - Heartsrevolution

10. America (Freon & Kazey Remix) - The Shoes

11. Rich Girls (XXXChange Remix) - The Virgins

12. Show Me Love 2009 (AC Slater Remix) - Steve Angello & Laidback Luke

13. Bonkers (Doorly Remix) - Dizzee Rascal & Armand Van Helden