Gunfist

I saw this fine autobiography in the pound shop, and felt compelled to purchase a copy so visiting Biscuit fans can have the pleasure of saying exactly what I did when I saw it sitting on the shelf.

I can’t say much about the book, except I just read the foreword by the implausibly named Stafford Hildred, which details Mr Titmus being falsely accused of stealing a sun lounger by Germans who shared their Majorca apartment complex, somewhat apropos of nothing. I’m not sure I was expecting anything more really.

Fatlace linked up this AC video that samples New Soul (as wot is used on the mac air advert). I think the eminem/new soul mashup on Feed The Animals edges it in general, but this video is just class (and has a nice little sting at the end, Apple fans).

Quick mixlet of things I’ve been listening to, inspired by and made during a period of internetlessness caused by BT moving our phone line in the exchange to improve service, but failing to plug it back in the other end.

[ download ]

1. Bonzo Dog Doodah Band - Trouserpress (intro)
2. Lyrics Born - Stop Complaining (Rmx)
3. Evil Ed ft Yungun - Nico Suave
4. Lord Finesse - Strictly for the Ladies
5. Jay-Z - What They Gonna Do
6. Vast Aire - TV Land
7. Nas - You Can’t Stop Us Now
8. RZA - Drama

I’m a little bit hip-hopped out after the excellent Rising Styles festival live day yesterday (I’ve got a couple of phone photos on flickr). The ending was admittedly marred somewhat by them turning the sound off on Blaq Twang after his first track - if there was that hard a limit someone should have let him know at least, as he seemed completely in dark (literally so once they turned off the lights). Other than timing really everything went brilliantly, so congrats to all the organisers and all the acts, and congrats to El Nim for a) surviving a scotch egg induced choking incident b) becoming the official Brighton Kidz in the Hall fan.

On a related note, DJ Dee-Ville dropped a comment mentioning his Lakim Shabazz mix. I’d already been all over it thanks to the magic of RSS, but if you haven’t checked it out do give it a listen. If you’re not familiar with Lakim Shabazz, perhaps it will help to know he was a member of Flavour Unit back in the day, and that every one of the beats on the mix is a certified 45 King banger?

I got a bit confused when googling how to install java on Debian 4, but this business seems to work:

vim /etc/apt/sources.list

add non-free to the ftp.debian.org entry:

deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free

Then

aptitude install sun-java5-jdk

I’ve always been a bit crap at Debian, it never quite works how I expect it to!

Jay-Z’s appearance at Glastonbury has shown a diplomatic side to young hov that I don’t think has been fully revealed before. After Noel Gallagher made some disparaging comments about his headlining, he came back with a thoughtful and well worded response:

“We don’t play guitars, Noel, but hip hop has put in its work like any other form of music. This headline show is just a natural progression. Rap music is still evolving. From Afrika Bambaataa DJ-ing in the Bronx and Run DMC going platinum, to Jazzy Jeff And The Fresh Prince winning the first rap Grammy, I’m just next in the line. We have to respect each other’s genre of music and move forward.”

Having done that, to show he wasn’t just a soft touch, he opened with Wonderwall -  Jay-Z doesn’t get played, son. Once again, after Amy Winehouse called Kanyeezee a bad word during her set, he exhibited some hip hop restraint:

“She said something about Kanye late on (in her set) but I didn’t hear it and I don’t agree with it. He’s my brother and the biggest artist on Roc-A-Fella (records) right now,” explained Hov to the network. “I guess I should hook them up because he’s a great guy too. I don’t know what the problem is- I don’t know where that (comment) came from.”

Jiggaman: shoe-in for the foreign secretary job in the Obama administration. Replace the names above with middle eastern countries and Jay has basically created world peace.

Saw Atmosphere (with Ant!) & Brother Ali at the Komedia last night, supported by Kidz in the Hall. KitH were good, but I don’t think many people there were familiar with them. I hadn’t heard any of their stuff before but it seemed not bad. Slug and Ali killed it though, the first half was mostly medleys, Ant mixing the beats into one another, followed by a few Ali only songs then some Atmosphere classics.

Amusingly, I did overhear a group of lads saying “I’ve got to get a photo with The Brother”, prompting a wry smile from the DJ part of kidz in the hall (they did get the photo later you’ll be glad to know). Overall, I was impressed that Ant managed to go the whole gig without smoking (though he did say it was “difficult”), and it was also nice to see him and Ali sitting outside at a pub down the road when we were walking to the gig. No turning up an hour late for them (Guru - take note).