DIFFO

Reviews:



Skanna - 2015 Remastered Collection

If your after the original 3x12" from back in the day your looking at about £120, reissued on Keeping Vinyl Alive for the year 2015 with mastering from Beau Thomas I have absolutely no complaints here, If you ever heard the mix tape sellers of Drum 'n' Bass or was in any D 'n'B club on the streets of North London back in 93 then these would have been on it



Voodoom - Voodoom

Released June, 2015, VOODOOM are Bong-Ra and Deformer featuring Scapu Lox on vocals. Dark Ritualistic Breakbeat Jungle. Inspired by early 90's UK Jungle and Darkstep mixed with the clear trademark sound of these two established producers. The Surinam lyrics by Scapu Lox, a community strongly present in Rotterdam.
Bong-Ra and Deformer showcase a totally unique and utterly unforgettable soundscape on this release. Vocalist Scapu Lox also turns in a handful of stellar vocal performances with Surinamese lyrics. The central ethos of the record’s velocity is summed up by a vocal skit on Sacrifice- “The gradual destruction of mind, and body, and spirit”. Two singular producers turning in a breakneck masterpiece.



Darker Than Wax (Label)

For 2014 there’s an air of excitement around Darker Than Wax label right now that’s reminiscent of the aura surrounding imprints like Brownswood or Ninja Tune labels back in the mid-90s’; it’s almost a given that anything they come up with will be of guaranteed quality. An initiative by Darker Than Wax (Singapore) and Cascade Records (France). Though lots have been released on MP3, FLAC and with only one vinyl album out that collaborated with Cascade Records (3) , I'm sure well be seeing more after the debut album Various - Feelings In Colour being released on vinyl for 2014 and beyond



Johnny Cash - Johnny Cash At San Quentin

Recorded by Granada Television.from Manchester. England and Directed by Michael Darlow, writer and producer of programmes for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and major broadcasters around the world. Filmed in San Quentin prison before a live audience of inmates and prison staff, the Album has to be one of my fave live albums and Im no fan of country music though this album is just pure rock n roll



Acid Angels - Speed Speed Ecstacy

OK Its 1988 when this got released though I can't find a review for it anywhere so here is my findings! As was most fucked up youth were into speed-heroin needle arm abuse in the 80's, my findings were 'ecstasy' was just some kind of remix for music.It could have been Camden Palace/Ballroom London when I first heard this, not sure, or even Manchesters Palace / Ritz ?

Intro "This song is something we done in a alblum, alblum ? into what some say a Donna Summer sample come 'Grindcore' > z "Speed Speed Ecstasy" is a collaboration of..... (Uh uh ehhhh)..angels ! and was in fact sparked off by the Acid House movement of that time but the Angels decided to take it one step further by giving it a deep house and kicking in their own style. The Angels take snatches of music from Elvis, DeNiro's 'Taxi Driver' and more.



Goat (22) - World Music

Released 2012. The artist from northern Sweden, to what, they wear masks on stage the members of Goat are from a village that was, in its earliest days, populated by a Voodoo-worshiping clan. The villagers lived peacefully until Christians drove them out (apparently); fleeing, the villagers laid a curse on the place. This us-versus-them scenario, funneled through an album called World Music.

Points the spotlight on the band’s omnivorous nature as they use whatever inspirations come to hand.fro-beat and Afro-rock meeting the intoxicating Krautrock of Amon Düül II, Can and any number of proto-punk outfits jamming over the Omen soundtrack.

It’s all lyrically shards of guitar, necromancy percussion, and entangled chants and melodies. It’s a peek into the minds of the Brothers Grimm as they astral travel from Kinshasa to Detroit, stopping off for a mushroom-fueled trip with Hawkwind through the valleys of Wales, and a Stockholm-based avant-jazz gig along the way. It’s insane, chaotic, and wholly brilliant.

Goatlord”, with shrieking, echoing vocals, and more of those beautiful amp-fusing picked leads. There’s the watching the Wickerman burn orgy of “Goathead”, with low-end bass rumbles, fervent percussion, warping feedback, and a gentile folk stroll to finish. “Let it Bleed” has fuzzed-out vocals and a jazzy-saxophone flourish to subvert its uplifting indie-pop riffs, and everything comes crashing together on spectacular closer “Det Som Aldrig Förändras”. Droning, psychedelic keyboards

The majority of World Music‘s tracks are brief and nasty, giving the album a mean lo-fi edge. But while the album is filthy and echo-laden, it is also warm, with a hefty, thick pulse. It’s stuffed to the corners with sounds, and the balance between messy analogue ambitions and ensuring all the instruments are captured and rendered for maximum narcotic effect is superbly gauged—both the production and mix are excellent.



Greg Wilson
Credit To The Edit

The legendary Liverpool pioneer in the disc jockey business, Wilson was the first person ever to mix two records on British television, started out in 1975, With his primary interest being black music, Wilson's nights at the Wigan Pier covered a spectrum of black music styles. But it was in his championing of the early electro records that he became known nationally - whilst working at Wigan Pier, he was offered an ailing Wednesday night residency at Legend in Manchester but stopped for almost 20 years, between 1984 and the end of 2003, at which point started again.

But more people nowadays know him for his prowess at the editing desk. Ever since he took back up the job of rocking dance floors, audiences have been treated to Wilson's exclusive cut-ups via his laptop and reel-to-reel player, he still gets cut by the razor every so often. In 2004 he re-visited his Electro-Funk past, compiling the ‘Classic Electro Mastercuts’ album, part of the influential ‘Classic Mastercuts’ series released by Beechwood in the UK, making a few rare DJ appearances during this period to promote the album.

Credit To The Edit Volumes was released in 2009, 2010, as part of their Essential Mix 500 special, Radio 1 selected Wilson’s Essential Mix



Charles Manson - LIE: The Love And Terror Cult

It is quite surreal to handle a copy of Lie: The Love and Terror Cult, and certainly a very bizarre feeling to know that someone so twisted as Charles Manson and his cult, The Family, were the artists behind it all. Still, no matter how outrageous it appears, artists they are—albeit questionable ones. Or are they...? The reaction to Manson's music here is determined by the bias (rightfully and justifiably so) resulting from being guilty of the horrific Tate-LaBianca murders. This is probably what tainted the sales of the record when it first was released, with just three hundred of the two thousand copies sold. But that was the sixties. America was at the height of its reactionary politics, and the hippie movement had adopted Manson as an icon, but the tragic events associated with The Family's involvement in the Tate-LaBianca murders put paid to not only the popular, hippie counterculture, but also to the future of Manson's music career

At first blush, and this is exactly what this record will be to many listeners today, the record may not be path breaking, musically or otherwise. But it is, nevertheless, a significant musical document, considering it is a reflection of the popular counterculture. As a musical event it does have several moments, however. Significantly, most of folksy tracks have stood up to the test of time. "Look at Your Game Girl" and "Eyes of a Dreamer" are iconic, as is "Cease to Exist" and "The More You Learn to Love." "Cease To Exist" was, in fact, co-written by the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson and was also recorded by the group, but as "Never Learn To Love"—first as a single and then on 20/20 (Capitol, 1968). Other tracks have since been covered, hidden in or just blatantly swiped by various artists who show varying degrees of admiration for Manson's musicality.

If it is possible to put aside the cynicism or angst towards Charles Manson then it is possible to enjoy this record. Although the music does, at times, come across as being a tad simple—even simplistic—it also has its moments of freshness. What effectively destroys any pleasure that may be derived from listening to the music are the events that Manson helped unfold. Still, while he is no Dylan or John Sebastian, Manson was indeed driven by the same existentialism that drove many of his generation. He was cruelly distracted by the hidden impulses contained in his songs, and the rest is a sordid history. But it is hoped that that fact will not diminish the experience of listening to this music for what is hoped to be. The booklet accompanying the music includes liners by Bernard Stollman of ESP-Disk and liners by Phil Kaufman, the record's original producer. Those, together with Steve Alexander's "Charles Manson Interview" make the 2008 release quite historic.

Track Listing: Look At Your Game, Girl; Ego; Mechanical Man; People Say I'm No Good; Home Is Where You're Happy; Arkansas; I'll Never Say Never To Always; Garbage Dump; Don't Do Anything Illegal; Sick City; Cease To Exist; Big Iron Door; I Once Knew A Man; Eyes Of A Dreamer; Devil Man; The More You Love; Two Pair Of Shoes; Maiden With Green Eyes (Remember Me); Swamp Girl; Bet You Think I Care; Look At Your Game, Girl (alternate version); Interview; Who To Blame; True Love You Will Find; My World; Invisible Tears.

Personnel: Charles Manson: guitar and vocals; The Family: other instruments and background vocals.



Death Grips - Ex Military

Released 2012. Exmilitary merges the most ambitious traits of the year's best rap albums for the year 2012 while avoiding the same pitfalls: it achieves the cogent political stance of "Watch the Throne" without the Luxury Rap paradox. It draws the same grotesque fascination with violence and sexuality paraded by Odd Future, but dodges immature over-the-top flourish by a humbling of disposition alone.

Second track “Guillotine” sets the dark imagery of the album with deft minimalism and pure ire, a caustic synth exploding in arpeggio near the end. "Spread Eagle Cross the Block" signs the album’s opening struggle in blood. Over some bluesy bass and guitar riffs, Ride explodes: “What is it? Where is it? How will it affect me? [expletive] that [expletive], I need that [expletive]’s bound to be the death of me, [expletive] buying it I'm taking it, and sharing it with nobody.

Sometimes, a musical act rises from the depths of obscurity and completely blows you away. Death Grips are an act like that. Intense and grungy, these Sacramento natives defy genre stereotypes and have completely set themselves outside the realm of categorization. Formed by drummer Zach Hill and two other unnamed participants, they blend a large variety of influences that include hip-hop, punk, and breakbeat into an intense musical concoction that's hard to swallow but even harder to forget. Unique sampling and vocal delivery help to further set Death Grips apart from the rest of the musical world, and their latest mixtape Exmilitary showcases this thoroughly.

The opening track “Beware” begins with a vocal sample from none other than Charles Manson, who denounces the leadership of others with one of his famous tirades. It soon becomes apparent that the subject matter of the tracks sets Death Grips apart just as much as their instrumentation. Their use of apocalyptic imagery adds a dark layer of mystery to every line, compounded by the repetitive beats that back up the vocalist's hard delivery. “Lord of the Game” continues these themes with the odd addition of saxophone and vocal samples that form the basis of the whole track. The lyricism turns the music scene into a literal battlefield using stark visions of war and vehement proclamations of supremacy. While the vocabulary and rhyme structure are less than impressive, it's hard to get hung up on them when bombarded with such unique instrumentals.

Exmilitary hits its stride with the introduction of “Takyon (Death Yon),” a heavily industrial track that features some of the best flow the mixtape has to offer. Dismal production matches with the vocalist's hardcore lyricism and vocal delivery almost perfectly, filling the contours of the music as it bangs through to the track's conclusion. The following instrumental “Cut Throat” offers a perfect segue to the the album's second half, but still highlights the same intense features as the rest of the tracks with a mix of record scratching and grating synthesizers.

While much of the mixtape's subject matter is put forth in a very violent manner, it helps connect Death Grips' views of the world around them to the music in a very organic way. Images of police brutality (“Klink”) and crooked government (“Thru the Walls”) are hard to paint with a rosy glow, so the decision to present them in the harsh light of reality really helps get the message across. Comparisons to Odd Future are easy to make for the casual listener, but where the Wolf Gang use violent imagery in an attempt at humoring themselves, Death Grips' lyrics carry an impassioned weight that truly sets them apart from their peers.

Exmilitary is the perfect example of an album everyone needs to experience for themselves. Any combination of adjectives and nouns would be an extreme disservice to the sonic trip Death Grips have crafted within the mixtape's confines, because every component will hit individuals in a completely different way. Exmilitary is an abrasive and traumatic ordeal, rife with production that's on-point but completely jarring at the same time. Death Grips are authoring an engrossing chapter in today's music scene, and I can't wait to hear what they come up with next.



A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Winged Victory For The Sullen

Released 2011. One of my favorite albums for 2011 ! Starts out with drawn out cello and violins for the intro and into a piano with long reverberation bass ivory key loveliness then into something that can only be orchestrated mellow madness as the sounds go into a near feedback frenzy.
The results are, almost inevitably, meditative and cinematic, but also, more unusually for music of this so-called ‘post-classical’ album, rich in melody and genuinely haunting, numinous atmosphere. Thus, tremulous, pensive opener and sometimes sending you over the edge.
Composed by two musicians at the height of their craft, the album reveals itself, thus far, as the apex of a limited genre still forming and as one of our finest contemporary acts of remembrance and ascension.

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Working on Manchester music is a on going project

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