Good writing, eh? I've been helping NASA with their homepage this week, so it all rolls off rather easy. So where was I? Space. That's it. There's a lot if it. So much in fact, that a trip to Mars is the cosmic equivalent of a walk to the local corner shop, where some would say there's even less chance of finding life (see the entry Cosmic Zoom below).
But not even the mind-boggling scale of the cosmos can render NASAs achievement of landing the Phoenix probe of Mars unimpressive. So much could have gone wrong, but didn't - after all, this is rocket science. As I type, Phoenix is diligently carrying out the tasks assigned to it by NASA's boffins, digging beneath the Martian topsoil to gather samples and analyse them. So far it has found amonia crystals, methane, carbon, hydrogen, a scratch card and two lucky dips.
Above: The horizon of another world - how cool is that?
Of course, the real fuss has been about the possibility of finding evidence that organic life once existed on the red planet, which if confirmed would be the most important news we've ever had. Hard evidence that life existed on another world would mean there really is a grand scheme to the universe and would prove that life on earth isn't just a sick joke or biological accident. One to watch then.
Space. Wow.
Above: California Lovin: scientists celebrate at mission control HQ in Pasedena . Below: NASA'a next destination for an unmanned probe.
FULL PLAYLIST Machine War – Kate Simko Space Ghosts – Theo Parrish Mind of a Machine – Carl Craig Heavenly (Juan Atkins Remix) – e–Dancer Lifted Soul E.P (Life Experiance) – Soul Oasis pres Nef Nunez Orbit brazil – Flying Lotus Welcome to the Machine – Pink Floyd Timecode – Justus Kohncke W (Original Mix) – Cobblestone Jazz Grüne Raufaser – Pikaya Machine Vibes – Metro Area The Man Machine – Kraftwerk Astal Sunshine – Artemis 50 Cycles – Squarepusher Desire – Carl Craig Nefarious stranger – Theo Parrish Space talk – Masters of the universe No Question No Answer – Monochord Big Sky City (Above The Clouds Mix) – Derrick May Rain – Mikkel Metal Frustration – Carl Craig & Derrick May Theme Park – Aardvarck Landcrusing – Carl Craig Waterfalls – Mr. Fingers (AKA Larry Heard) Night Drive – Carl Craig Love Theme From Bladerunner – Vangelis
My last few entries have been a little too esoteric, so here's something that's much more fun (bit more of a sports crowd in 'ere, you know what I mean pal?).
It's the theme from the original Spiderman cartoon. Great tune, great drums... and it somehow captures that excitement I used to feel when the cartoon came on. The show was the first TV adaption of the character, and originally ran from 1967 to 1970 on ABC, but helped fill many a kids' TV schedule for years after this on repeat.
Peter Parker has of course gone on to achieve movie blockbuster fame beyond his comic book and cartoon origins, and good for him. He got orphaned, lost his uncle and got bitten by a radioactive spider for god's sake, so he deserves a break.
While I'm on the subject of radioactivity here's a thought: a good mate of mine has recently had to take radioactive iodine to treat a condition (really), and has even been warned about his radioactive state (eg. he couldn't go near babies for a while).
During this time, I really wanted him to bite a spider to see what happened - we could have created 'manspider', an arachnid with less strength than other spiders, that sat around on the sofa all day drinking beer, and would only manage to spin a web occasionally - perhaps on bank holidays. Or he could have bitten me to make 'manman' which would have ...
Ok, ok that's enough - you only wanted the download, didn't you? Here it is then:
This is a pure self-indulgent nostalgia trip. And what a trip it is. I remember seeing Cosmic zoom as a very small child - around seven years old or so, I think -and being totally gobsmacked by it. The film stayed with me forever, and I dug it out a couple of years ago on the Tube.
While it's still an amazing concept and film, I remembered the animation as being so much more impressive than it really is, something like the descent to Jupiter in 2001: A Space odyssey. I guess modern CGI is to blame for that, not to mention the progress of old father time.
I think the reason Cosmic zoom sits so deep in my memory, apart from the fact I loved space and science fiction as a kid, is that I remember seeing the film lots of times one particular school holiday. They used to repeat morning programmes back then (plus ca change), and it was on at the same time, very early, every morning for a week or so.
So the visual 'wow' factor may have receded fast just like the imaginary camera in the film, but the feeling it gave me is still there. The first time I saw this was probably the first time I ever really just stopped and thought about the big picture beyond my own little world - shame they're not showing this every morning now instead of music videos. And speaking of music, it's interesting to note the warm, scratchy soundtrack that sets the mood for this film - Boards of Canada, anyone?
Those were the days. Men wore hats. Women wore heels. Everyone smoked. There was no Facebook and tough guys would say "why-I-oughta" through gritted teeth. No dummy, I'm not talking about Manchester in 1986, but America in the 30s and 40s. In this time and place, radio ruled the airwaves and families would huddle around a large box packed with wires and valves for entertainment. Sometimes they'd even switch it on.
So what were these good folk listening to? There's a good chance that their audio intake may have included the two fine examples below: War of the Words, the most famous radio play from Orson Welles' Mercury theatre, and a 'pulp' detective thriller called The glass donkey.
PULP RADIO So, let's start with the pulp, and a Top of the pops presenter is bound to have said at some stage. The Glass donkey is a Raymond Chandler detective story written as a radio play, for the series The adventures of Philip Marlowe. Strangely for audio, it makes me really visualise the era. It would be a fun one to one to sample, too. Just check the intro - it's pure Wu Tang:
"Get this and get it straight! Crime is a sucker's road and those who travel it wind up in the gutter, the prison or the grave. There's no other way, but they never learn."
Above: Gerald Mohr in action at the CBS studios
NBC-produced, The adventures of Philip Marlowe was a weekly series that began in September 1948, and by the following year was it was pulling the biggest audience on American radio, with more than 10 million listeners. At the core of its success was good writing and Gerald Mohr as Marlowe, with the trademark snappy delivery that bagged him a Best Male Actor radio award.
PANIC STATIONS War of the Worlds is something else altogether. One of the most infamous radio broadcasts ever, it's based on HG Wells' classic story of the same name, which as we all know imagines earth under attack from Martians. What director Orson Welles did was to treat the story in a news verité style, which caused sections of the great American public to panic, as they thought the broadcast - and the invasion - were real.
Broadcast as a Halloween special in October 1938, it's a wonderful example of the power of radio at a time when there was so much less media noise, and anything that sounded 'official' carried serious credibility. Of course, its impact would be far less in the modern world, where even a real alien invasion would take time to sink in to people's busy lives - until they picked up the Daily Mail and saw the headline Alien invasion house price shock, that is.
JIVE TURKEY Now, I'm posting this kind of stuff as a change from the usual hip-hop mix tapes, but it seems I can't get away from it, even with a strange old gem like this. As with the Glass donkey mentioned above, the introduction to the War of the worlds broadcast has a sample-friendly intro. If you recognise the words, '...we take you to the Hotel Martinet in Brooklyn, where Bobby Millette and his orchestra are offering a program of dance music', the its because you've heard Double D and Steinski's cut and paste classic Lesson 2. I always preferred Jive Bunny myself.
Watch the Lesson 2 video:
Above (centre): Double D (Trousers) and Steinski (Upper body and head) lead their dancers in a live performance of Lesson 2.
So here's a "curiosity" (say the word in a scouse accent - it sounds better). The soundtrack album form the 1965 animated feature A Charlie Brown Christmas, by jazz composer Vince Guaraldi.
The feature itself explores the over-commercialisation of Christmas, and is even credited in some quarters with the stigmatisation of artificial Christmas trees. Powerful shit, eh? Not very seasonal right now I know - but if I put this up at Christmas it wouldn't be a curiosity, would it?
The soundtrack is 40 minutes long, and it's a real mood swinger. Why not stick it on in your lunch hour? It's guaranteed to change your day, and you'll still have time for a sandwich.
So def so def so def it's the def jam... sampler tape! This one came out in 1987, and had a very interesting - you could even say strange - mix of music. It's funny to look back at these old compilations through the lens of today's personality-led and oh-so-over-compartmentalised music industry.
If you're into dubstep, but can't stand bassline (or vice-versa) then this tape probably isn't for you. If on the other hand you don't even know what these labels mean, then congratulations - not only are you bound to enjoy this tape, but you're also more likely to be happy, live in a decent house and dress properly. Hell, you can do anything with your life.
So what does this genre-straining mix include? Well, there's rap with a heavy rock flavour, a hip hop legend on form lyrically, a dollop of spacy soul, some bass-heavy instrumentals and even a touch of go-go. By the way, whatever happened to Chuck Stanley?
Now, this is very exciting. I've managed to get my hands on the original letter sent by the US Army to Chuck D, which inspired Public Enemy's light-hearted, 1988 pop ditty (it was either Bomb Squad or Stock Aitken & Waterman production - I can't remember) Black Steel in the hour of chaos.
It cost me $400 on ebay, but it was money well spent in order to own such a classic document and precious piece of hip hop history. Look out for more 'Exhibits' in the coming weeks.
This mix tape was originally recorded some time in summer 1993 by Theo Keating, aka DJ Touche. Me and Charlie Shazer would hang out in Theo's bedroom and he'd just start mixing records from his enviable collection, and surprisingly one of us would often have the presence of mind to stick a tape in and record the output on his famously hi-tech (ahem) set up.
When I listen to this music today it also reminds me of staying the night with Charlie in his shared house in Brixton. We'd listen to hip-hop most of the night - after all it was the golden era - but then the spooky tape would always go on later. We'd drift off to sleep to side B, only to be woken up with a jolt when the music took a dramatic turn, and just start laughing about it. Charlie christened it the 'Spooky stuff' and scribbled the name on the cassette. And so a legend was born.
The tape became a real stalwart not just for entertaining guests, but also for sending them to sleep and waking them up again. It stayed with me for years - until I lent it out to Dan Canyon, who also kept it for quite a while, no doubt addicted to the same disturbing sleep pattern. Dan gave it back to me years later, digitised. He looked very tired.
So what about the music itself? Good point. Well, side A is a classy mix of soul/funk classics that would grace any specialised collection, such as Barry White's Deeper and deeper, Aaron Neville's Hercules and Harlem river drive by Donald Byrd and the Blackbirds.
So why is it spooky? I just assumed you were too scared to ask. While Side B starts of in the same vein as Side A, with Ike's Mood being a typical track, somewhere around the 20-minute mark - just when you're totally chilled out - the tape takes a disturbing turn. Imagine Tchaikovsky was commissioned to make scary music for a Hanna Barbera halloween special, and it's erm, probably nothing like that, but you get the idea. As for precisely what this scary music is - I've never known, and genuinely don't want to know. It's just the Spooky stuff.
Thanks to Charlie, to Dan Canyon for bringing this gem back to life, and of course to Theo for creating this very special recording.
Aaah, Mike Allen. Was he more important than people give him credit for? His hip hop show, broadcast on Capital Radio every weekend in the mid-80s, was a real treat for budding b-boys. It took hip hop deep into the home counties and to small towns like mine that were otherwise-disconnected from the scene in London.
My own memory is of home taping sessions on my own late-night on a Friday, and earlier for the Saturday show with my first girlfriend, Sarah. My old tape deck was by the bed and I used to keep play and record pressed down but locked on pause, waiting for Allen to stop speaking and play a track I liked. If I ever did just leave the tape to run and catch his interviews or longer links, I'd usually re-record over them later. This strategy seems sadly flawed now. Yes, I did cram in some cool tracks, but it's Allen who seems the more interesting today, not the music. When I dusted off the tapes to digitise them, I was expecting to uncover a treasure trove of old skool gems from hip-hop's glory days, clumsily broken up by Allen's over-dulcet tones. But then something strange happened - I quickly found myself fast-fowarding through a dull procession of average, 808-based recordings and West Coast electro for glimpses of his voice, like a favourite uncle that I really missed. Suddenly, I regretted all that over-dubbing. I also remembered how much I'd annoyed my girlfriend back then, by not-so-surreptitiously reaching for the pause button when I was meant to be concentrating on something else: "If you touch that stereo AGAIN I'm bloody going home. That Italian bloke from the Wimpy really fancies me, you know."
So thanks to Mike Allen for helping to introduce me to hip hop and so badly-chaperoning me on all those weekend nights, and to my first girlfriend for sharing me with the likes of Duke Bootie, Mantronix and Doug E Fresh.
Download one of my Mike Allen shows now (originally broadcast June 8, 1986).
Epilogue: Mike Allen is now with Smooth FM. Sarah Taylor is married to that Italian bloke from the Wimpy. I've still got the tapes. Who's really the richer man?
Some movies featuring Mike Allen:
"Check the one in red - it's a girl"
Electro Rock intro from 1985 - look out for Mike Allen at the end
Radio. Suckers never play me. Well, maybe Chuck D had a point but it didn't stop me getting a gig on local radio, despite being underground (Ok, ok - I work in publishing and live in Sussex, but in a perverse way that is underground). Anyway, these files are hour-long mixes from my Thursday night show called "The Nightwatchman". The idea was to mix together some some late night music of all flavours - from rock and credible pop through to the more usual suspects such as soul/neo-soul, disco, house, electro and hip-hop. Did it work? It was probably more Alan Partridge than John Peel, but at least I gave it a go. It was cool just to blend together my favourite tracks from different eras and genres - whether lo-fi MP3s, old CDs with quiet recordings or new stuff with booming production - and push them all out over the radio in a single mix with that 'warm' FM sound. "An elaborate way to master your mix'" as one producer friend said. Cheaper than T-Racks, and a hell of a lot more fun. But the main reason I did it was just to reach people with the music I'm passionate about. I just love the idea of some local geezer in his car, stuck at the traffic lights, and hearing Theo Parrish, Larry Levan or Mantronix on my show. Oh, and he might also have heard Public Ememy. Looks like Chuck was wrong after all.
Some memorable quotes from the shows:
"The Aleem twins are welcome in East Grinstead anytime"
"Kudos is not a cheap aftershave"
"I spent hours trying to copy that dance move that Turbo did with the broom in the movie Breakin', and I just couldn't pull it off. But at least the house was tidy afterwards."
