Le Beat Bespoke 3

As mentioned a while back, upon my last visit to NYC, I made my customary stop at Rockit Scientist.

One of the items that I picked up was Le Beat Bespoke 3. I have seen the prior installments over the years, but this is the first volume that I have heard, (and purchased.)

The 20 song set starts out with "Abba" by The Paragons, which is a garage nugget that I have been familiar with for years. It is an awesome track, but seemed a tad out of place here. Seems most of the tracks are British or Continental in origin...

The good stuff that kicks it into action is track 3 "Love Me When I'm Down" by Soul Inc. The vibe continues with the very next song by the Neon Express with "Flashback." The guitar is fuzzy enough that friends of the Dick Taylor trashy sound will not be disappointed. The horns and stuff kind of kill it, but there you go.

The Ro-d-ys from Nederlands kick it with the track Looking for Something Better." Nederbiet with soaring harmonies. Not the Outsiders, but this is an airy track that has a break down that has smashing Moonesque drums accompanied by skronkity sax and smashing and gnashing of the the relatively clean guitar.

"Flipping" the disc over to the back side, Douuglas busts some craziness in the Francophonic "Si Je Buvais Moins." The guitar is nearly silenced by the level of distortion foisted upon it. the call and respinse of the organ and the guitar are excellente. Freak beat from Belgium? Oui.

Overall the juxtaposition on some of these tracks that contain both horns and symphonic elements matched with fuzz guitar is a bit shocking, but with repeated listens, I find it to be less jarring.

Some of the sonic quality is a bit specious here. "Is It Off Is It On" is an example of a very crunchy disc trying to make the transition to the digital realm. Seriously for US$30, I would expect perfectly sounding discs. Not suggesting for a moment to engage in "digital mastering" fuckery...

Still, I recommend that you find this one and crank it up on your hifi with a glass of Louis Jadot 2006 Beaujolais Nouveau. I know I did.

Here is a recent Morgan sighting in Northern IL, a rad British car to go with some rad moderne sounds.

NYC a week or so back

Greetings from fog encased IL...

As my blogging comrade, Vincent at FuFuStew, likes to say sometimes real life gets in the way, and that is definitely the case in my situation.

Hope you had a chance to listen to DJ Colonel and his set at the dub controls that I recently posted.

I went to NYC over a week ago and had some interesting adventures, some of which I will share here. First of all off the plane, I hopped into a standard issue NYC cab. I directed the driver to take me to 110 Fifth Ave (between 16th and 17th.) I spoke very clearly and the hack said that he understood. I then got deeply invloved in both email and phone calls.

A few minutes later I realized that I was not in the MidTown Tunnel and I looked out the window to see that I was on 116th Street! Quite a distance from the desired destination of the environs of Union Square!

Of course the hack said that he thought I meant 5th Ave between 115th and 116th! I corrected him, told him to turn off the meter and get on the FDR. Luckily, I sort of know my way around, otherwise this could have been a serious cluster... Welcome to NYC.

While in Gotham on unrelated matters, I was able to get over to my fave place in the East Village Rockit Scientist. As usual, John was in a talkative mood and we chatted about business, NYC and of course music. I spent some serious coin on 2 CDs, but they were worth it. I picked up the s/t Air reissue as well as Le Beat Bespoke 3. I will spill some digital ink on more in depth reviews of both soon as I am able to bust some of my work back load.

The very next night I headed out to Botanica (the former Knitting Factory) on the south side of Houston. I was able to catch Mr. Finewine's first set and that of a laptop wrangling soul slinger as well. I was able to speak with Mr. Finewine as well and I am proud to say he has visited this humble blog.
Did I mention that Botanica has reasonably priced Duvel as well?

Sorry about the pics, they were taken on my phone.