Nick:

DJ Shadow- Building Steam With a Grain of Salt

U.N.K.L.E.- Berry Meditation (Last Ever Mix)

Liquid Liquid- Optimo

AFX- Laughable Butane Bob

Subtle- Eneby Kurs

Hymie’s Basement- Moonhead

Hymie’s Basement- The Pump

Coldcut- Every Home is a Prison (Shut Up and Dance Mix)

The Perceptionists- Blo

NMS- Super Pretzel (Diplo Mix)

Cassetteboy- Bush

DJ Shadow w/ The Gift of Gab- Entropy (Part C-Count & Estimate)

Prince Paul- Profit

Quasimoto- Greenery

MF Doom- Operation Greenback

Cassetteboy- The Streets

Grandmaster Flash- Adventures on the Wheels of Steel (Freddy Fresh Mix)

LCD Soundsystem- Losing My Edge

Irresistible Force- Power (Mix Master Morris Mix)

Alanïa  L'eglise (Deuxième Partie) (Biosphere Trekking Mix)

Gabor Szabo- Mizrab (Prefuse 73 remix)

Cannibal Ox- Atom

Company Flow- End to End Burners (Remix)

Danger Mouse and Jemini- Medieval (Starring The Pharcyde)

M.I.A.- Fire Fire

DJ Food- Dark Lady

Steinski and Mass Media- We’ll Be Right Back

As mentioned on a past entry I was in Wellington a little while back during the Punk Fest. I noted that the event seemed to be more about death metal than my conception of punk with an old school image of Minor Threat and the Dead Kennedy's. Well I was too young, geographically displaced, and in the wrong musical circles to be aware of any of those bands while they were active. Thankfully apart from the recorded material there has been plenty of good documentation of the happenings of the times. I mention this mostly because I finally had a chance to see the Decline of Western Civilization, which is off course not new, but unfortunately rather rare. Seeing bands like Black Flag and the Germs performing and talking about life is, well, pretty cool, given their on going legacy. So I then got interested in what other material was out there. Just a small search uncovered Punk Attitude (Nabeel already mentioned this and I think this is widely available), a movie about the Germs called What We Do is Secret, and We Jam Econo: The Story of the Minutemen. Incidentally Mike Watt is the fill in for the Stooges when they play at the Big Day Out. Regular concert goers might remember that Watt played at a pervious Big Day Out where he was a ringer with Porno for Pyros. Good times.

The news this week is as disturbing as ever. In the politics versus the fourth estate battle there was the idiotic claims by Winston Peters that NZ Herald was committing treason. More seriously was the revelation of a secret memo where George Bush wanted to bomb Arabic television station Al Jazeera. After indicating that such a memo exists, the UK's Daily Mirror was threatened with legal action by the UK government should they go onto publish its contents. Although it is hardly surprising that Blair's people would take this position, I don't think I am alone in wanting to know if the "Leader of the Free World" really contemplated something so vile. Sadly such behaviour, however horrifying, is not surprising. After all, the Bush administration is trying to legalise torture and claim that white phosphorus is not a chemical weapon. What's more, it also held one of its own citizen's for over three years (much of it spent in solitary confinement) before charging formally him. I wonder if there is a public breaking point, when it will finally be all too much. One can hope.

Anyway onto brighter things, as I mentioned a little while back, the Grey Lynn Festival is this weekend. Hopefully the weather report will be wrong for that one. Indoors there is the Quantic Soul Orchestra and Alice Russell on Friday, then a special Turnaround on Saturday. All things being equal I should actually make it out of the house. Shout out to Nabeel who is probably soaking up the nightlife of Sydney. Also good luck to the wonderful Sophie who is unfortunately the latest casualty at Base. She has been super important to the station and really helpful for our show.

Peace y'all

Nick:

Boards of Canada—Dayvan Cowboy

Pharoah Sanders—Astral Traveling (Boozoo Bajou remix)

Kid Koala—Annie’s Parlour

Up Bustle & Out—Hip Hop Barrio

Cassetteboy—Michael Jackson

The Sequence—Simon Says (Deckwrecka remix)

RJD2—Good Times Roll Pt 2

Nabeel:

Frankie Crocker—Rap

Roni Size/Reprazent—Watching Windows (Masters At Work remix)

Laila France—Trashy Like TV

John Holt—Rainy Night in Georgia

Aggrovators—Version

Esso Steel Band—I Want You Back

Young Tiger—Calypso Be

Gwen Stefani vs. Miles Davis—Summatime Girl

Gwen McCrae—Rockin’ Chair

George Benson—Footin’ It

Nick:

Dizzy Gillespie—Swing Low Sweet Cadillac (Gerardo Frisina remix)

DVD Review: Collateral (Michael Mann, 2004); In Good Company (Paul Weitz, 2004); Must Love Dogs (Gary David Goldberg, 2005)

Buffalo  Daughter—Li303ve (Suzuki Dekard San) (remix by UNKLE)

Digable Planets—Pacifics

Push Button Objects—360 Degrees

Mos Def/Diverse/Prefuse 73—Wylin’ Out (RJD2 remix)

DJ Shadow—The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party Mix)

Nabeel:

Basehead—Not Over You

De La Soul—Transmitting Live From Mars

Aziza A—Biz Bizi Biliriz (We Know Ourselves)

Piero Umiliani—Panoramica (Cinematic Orchestra remix)

The Flamingos—I Only Have Eyes For You

Jon Lucien—Would You Believe In Me

Marlena Shaw—Woman Of The Ghetto

Jean Grae—The Jam

M.I.A.—Pull Up The People (D’explicit remix)

Cedric Im Brooks—Shaft

Wayne Jarrett—Youth Man

Last Sunday I got a call from my bank saying that they had spotted some suspicious activity on my credit card. Some one had used my number someone in mid-Western USA for what I think was some hardware store purchase, and luckily the security team knew right away that this was outside my usual spending patterns. So steps were taken and I got a new card, luring me into a false sense of security. False because, today I was at the supermarket making a purchase only to have my eftpos transaction declined. Thinking that this must be a mistake, I went over to an ATM to see what the numbers held. Turns out, I well into overdraft, a figure that was totally out of sync with the big calculator in my head. So as my sweat glands went into overdrive I made my way to check my online statement to see how this could have possibly happened. The culprit was rather large withdrawal made in Notting Hill, UK, somewhere I have never been. Immediately I call the bank who are helpful but also puzzled. For someone to have access to my normal accounts (not my credit card) they need a physical card to get a withdrawal. The woman I spoke to said that this is pretty rare but has happened once before. Now I have the banks fraud team working on my case. So if you are that person in Notting Hill, we will have your number soon, and you shall be cast into the pit of financial hell. Where this fits into the 9 circles of Hades I cannot accurately say.

Anyway I noticed that here is a call for military help in Afghanistan. It strikes me as odd that this is partly the consequence of American's pulling their troops out to strengthen their presence in Iraq. It is very clear that the Taliban in Afghanistan harboured and was sympathetic to groups like Al Qaeda. It is also very clear that prior to the US invasion Iraq did not. Post-invasion, surprisingly, Afghanistan hasn't stabilised into one of the shining lights of democracy in the area. Instead its drug trade has increased, war lords have once again become common, and old forces like the Taliban have been popping up to make guest appearances. Yet this doesn't seem to trouble the American's who instead still insist on staying on course on Iraq and not bowing down to the forces of evil. The great John Cusack has some words on the state of his nation.

In other news, I was very happy to attend the Great Blend, put on by the fine folks at Public Address. It had a great panel discussion about the future of TV with the advent of recordable digital hard drives and internet technology. What this means for NZ, and TVNZ in particular is quite uncertain. It is worrying to see their ongoing developments, particularly the news that shows like Frontseat may face an uncertain future. The time might come for some more intervention. Please, no more reality TV. It is a dying trend anyway.

Also at the Great Blend were performances by Ladi6 and Pitch Black. Pitch Black had bought along their new remix CD, Halfway: Between Ape & Angel. I got a copy, as I like to think that the money would go directly to them as opposed to being filtered down through retail. Interesting to see that it is still illegal for me to now put that CD onto my iPod. I am not sure what the government thinks people do with digital music players. Hope the law gets changed before someone tries to test it on some poor soul.

peace y'all.

Nabeel:

Martin Luther King Jnr—Dr King’s entrance into the Civil Rights movement

Charles Mingus—Prayer for Passive Resistance

Rudy Ray Moore—On the Bus

Beat Kondukta—Payback (gotta)

Chosen Brothers & Bullwackie’s All Stars—Mango Walk (dubwise version)

Ebenezer Obey—Eyi Yato/Elere Ni Wa

Ambrose Campbell—Ashiko Rhythm

Esther Phillips—No Headstone on my Grave

Nick:

Cassetteboy—Impeachment/Perfect Day

Funkstörung—Grammy winners w/ Triple H

The Tape vs. RQM—Hip Hop is dead

Dr Octagon—Earth People

AntiPop Consortium—Tuff Gong

Cassette Boy—Dido is shit

Handsome Boy Modeling School w/ Casual—It’s like that

The Noice w/ Aceyalone—Mix Tapes

Aesop Rock—Daylight

Blockhead—You’ve got Maelstrom

Cassette Boy—Margaret Thatcher followed by Stephen Morrissey

Nabeel:

Maurice Chevalier—Paris, Sera Toujours Paris

Terry Hall & Mushtaq—Gathering Storm

Various—Madame Foyer (From Radio Palestine)

Mutamassik—Babomb

DVD review: The Sorrow and the Pity; A Self-Made Hero; La Haine/Hate

NTM/Cut Killer—Nique La Police

Resident Alien—State of Emergency

The Ruts—Babylon’s Burning

Sonic Youth—Kool Thing

The Bug featuring Daddy Freddy—Politicians & Paedophiles

Nick:

Cassette Boy—Tony Blair apologize

DJ Shadow—Would you buy a war from this man?

Saul Williams—African Student Movement

Public Enemy—Hazy Shade of Criminal

Cassette Boy—Bill Cosby sells drugs to children

Tes—Say when

The Herbaliser w/ Cappo—Failure’s No Option

So I started writing this entry on 7/11. Which reminds me of Ali G’s gag on US TV that ‘thing have been difficult for Americans since the tragic events of 7/11’. For those of you haven’t been stateside 711 is a chain of convenience stores. Some people without a sense of humour were upset.

I missed The Basement on Saturday because I had to pick up my brother from the airport. His earlier flight from Sydney was cancelled. So Nick kindly filled in for me on the show. This was the first visit to these shores from a Zuberi. My bro Sameer is a paediatric neurologist with specializations in narcolepsy and epilepsy. He flew down to Sydney from his home in Glasgow, Scotland for a conference on epilepsy, and sneaked in a couple of days in Auckland. We managed to cover a lot in 45 hours: up north to Tawharanui, Warkworth, the eastern bays, atop Mt Eden and around the eateries of Kingsland, and managed to show him one of my favourite movies Office Space too. Have just dropped him off for his flight to Sydney.

A visit from someone provides a really welcome interruption in the routine of your everyday life.

I have prepped my belated Rosa Parks tribute for the show. Still working through the Loop Select 007 CD, booklet and DVD.

Yay, let’s here it for the ‘scum’ as that French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy described them. Babylon’s burning! France believes it is the font of western civilization. It thinks it has the monopoly on universal values of liberty, fraternity and equality. Bollox. Only if you’re white. For a secular society, it deals more easily with Catholics and Protestants than Muslims and Jews. Many French collaborated with the Nazis under the Vichy regime. Check out Marcel Ophuls’ documentary The Sorrow and the Pity and for the postwar hypocrisy about France’s racist and fascist legacy, see Jacques Audiard’s film  A Self-Made Hero. Audiard also directed the excellent Read My Lips, which I reviewed on the show a weeks ago.  The film stars Matthieu Kassovitz who plays a guy who pretends that he’s a hero of the French resistance even though he comes from a family of Nazi collaborators. A great satire on how the Vichy sentiments were re-integrated into France after the war. Kassovitz directed the essential La Haine which follows three young French men of Algerian, Jewish and West African descent in the day after a riot in one of the suburbs or banlieus of Paris. Sound familiar? It was made in 1995. Anyhow, may the hordes from Africa and the Middle East swamp the white old guard of a nation that is economically in the doldrums.

More later,

Nabeel

The headline news continues to baffling thing. It was easy enough to point out that there was a huge imbalance in the coverage between the hurricanes battering South Eastern America and the devastating earthquake that hit Pakistan. But now it seems that although Paris has been burning for nearly two weeks the mass media (at least down here) doesn't figure this as being hugely important. It took nearly two weeks before the unfolding events made the front page of the world section in the NZ Herald. In once case the riots were trumped by unusual tornado's in America's mid-West. And as far as any analysis goes, well locally thank god for Russell Brown. I know that the French have been the butt of many a joke, but isn't this just taking the whole stupid American thing a bit far? It is not like we are trying to suck up to the Bush administration like our neighbours across the sea.

Meanwhile it has been fun to see a nice round of poltiical defeats. While it may seem petty to take pleasure in the failings of others, these clowns deserve a lot worse. Here is hoping that voting amnesia does not kick in. And bring on more indictments! (fingers crossed, fingers crossed, fingers crossed…)

Last Saturday there was a book fair up at ASB Stadium, and as it started at midday I got there just as it opened. Although I do read quite a bit, I am not a collector of any sort books or publications (my obsessions lie elsewhere). I haven't been to that many book fairs, and certainly none as crazy as that. People were running around with boxes grabbing stuff getting somewhat agitated. It made casual browsing quite difficult. The fair was actually running for 24 hours straight, but I declined to see how bumping it was at 3am.

Strangely enough though I met a woman called Brenda who felt that she had to say hello to me on account of seeing me at both the Real Groovy in Auckland and Wellington. It is a little strange to have someone notice you in three different spots, particularly as I usually have my head down checking out the wares, but she seemed pretty cool. I on the other hand suddenly felt self-conscious and struggled to say anything interesting.

Although I know Nabeel reviewed Sideways awhile back I don't think we covered American Splendor. I mention this both because of my aforementioned awkwardness, and having the occasion to once again see the film. This has finally promoted me to go and check out the wonderful comic's that Harvey Pekar has put out. His comments on music collecting were pretty funny, but scary for someone as obsessive as myself.

On the horizon the onset of summer lots of events have started to bubble up. There is the Quantic Soul Orchestra with Alice Russell on the 25th of October in Auckland and the 26th in Wellington. The 26th is also the day for the Grey Lynn Park Festival and the Turnaround. Blackalicious are returning on December the 15th for a gig at Studio in Auckland. Then the Big Day Out looks quite promising (do I dare go yet again?). Then there is the return of both Soundsplash and Splore. Splore as scored Talib Kweli, something that I am sure Dylan C from the Headspace was trying to tell me last night. However with my bad hearing I told him I didn't know who that is, making me sound probably like a bit of a dick. Will try and correct myself to Dylan tomorrow. Otherwise the universe might end as I know it.

Finally, rest in peace Rod Donald. New Zealand politics will sorely miss you.

Peace y'all

Nick:

Tortoise- DJed (UNKLE Remix)

Rammelzee vs K-Rob- Beat Bop

Young MC- Know How

Roots Manuva + Chali 2na- Join the Dots

Trillion- Sign Hallelujah

Guerrilla New Network- Happy Ramadan Osama bin Laden

All Natural- Vegetarian

NWA vs Kid606- Straight Outta Compton

Autechre- We R Why?

Jay-Z vs Jeru- 99 Problems (Remix)

Count Bass D- I’m Overjoyed That You Came Clean

Fela Kuti- Kalakuta Show

Archie Shepp- The Cry of My People

Prince- Sing O the Times

Subtle- Eneby Kurs

Blackalicious- Attica Black

Red Snapper- Some Kinda Kink (Two Lone Swordsmen Remix)

Jackson and His Computer Band- Rock On

Danger Doom- Mince Meat

Mr Len w/ Mr Live and Chubb Rock- Dummy Smacks

MC Serch- Here it Comes

De La Soul- The Grind Date

I finished reading Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation (I do have a bit too much spare time right now). Great book, and interesting comments on the current state of American political affairs. Of particular note is her material on the McKinley administration. If you don't know a lot about American history, it used to harbour a strong sense of isolationism, something to look back on fondly. But at the end of the 19th century its ambition and greed finally sprang forth, with the Spanish-American war. White gold (sugar) was the prize, hazy reasons for sending a nation to war were created, and shady justifications were made. Cuba and the Philippines would be liberated, freed from their European colonial shackles. As to what actually happened, history speaks for itself quite clearly on this matter. I am still unsure as to whether the subsequent administrations have just been too stupid to learn from the past, or if they think that no one is really paying attention.

One thing made very clear to me by the book is the hope that no one will able to shoot George Jr. This is not only a reflection of my sincere abhorrence to violence, but also the horrible possibility that such a twist of fate might try and make a martyr out of a clown. If there is any sense of real justice, this administration will continue on its self destructive path before a largely delighted world public. More indictments please.

On another troubling note, is anyone ready for the Bird Flu yet? Unsurprisingly certain people have already realised that with fear comes money making opportunities. I know practically nothing about how a virus evolves, so am in the wait and see camp. The total lack of poultry in my diet continues keep make me happy as things unfold. Am actually surprised that people are not getting more wary of places like KFC, but then again it sort of surprises me that anyone would go there for any reason at all. Would also love for the intelligent design camp to try and weigh in on this one, is this disease changing on its own accord, or is their a larger guiding hand?

Tomorrow, apart from being time for the weekly musical excellence of the Basement, is of course Guy Fawkes. Once again press is given to those who want to ban fireworks. In some sort of weird political twist it seems to be Labour defending the publics right to illuminate and make small explosions, while National for a ban (perhaps they are too politically correct).  It is always sad to see what a few idiots do when they get the opportunity to play with fire, not just because of the physical damage they cause, but because it is then thought that an all out ban should be enacted. Back in the day, my fireworks experiences were relatively extreme. I grew up in a place where they were completely banned, leading to sales under the counter and out of the backs of cars. It also meant that the  goods were usually very powerful. Powerful, like blowing off pieces of solid brick wall. Accidents were abound, and going to hospital was never pretty. I however received no injuries, and look back upon this time with fondness. So about all I can suggest is that, kids, be safe and lets all play nice.

Peace y'all