The third instalment of Spannered's Oddcast series has finally landed. Number three was scheduled to be an exclusive mix of new and unreleased material from Bristol-based musicians, but that's still being cobbled together... so we've a lovely selection of Brazilian music for you instead.
 
Compiled by Spannered's Al Fresco, who recently returned to the UK from an extended stay in São Paulo, the selection is mostly bossa nova, samba rock, soul and funk goodies from the '60s and '70s. Pour yourself a caipirinha, kick back and dig in!

As the interweb becomes ever more blog orientated, here at Spannered we stumble on craply with ours, posting with all the frequency of a king penguin's breeding cycle. Occasionally, however, something comes along that shakes us from our virtual slumber — such as this, which is probably the coolest thing on the whole web. Don't say we never give you anything.

Despite having nothing at all to do with kung fu or afros, something else that's really rather cool is news that Blur's bass guitarist-turned-farmer Alex James has launched his own cheese.

All those lucky souls who have signed up to our mailing list will have received today our latest mailout — a functional and relatively bullshit-free piece of correspondence rounding up what's new on the site since the last time we bothered to put one together.

 

For an overview of Spannered's latest news and content, click here to read our September mailout in all it's glory. And if you'd like one of those soiling your inbox every couple of months, head over to our homepage and sign on up!

Do you remember magazines? You know, those paper things with words and pictures in, which you used to read on the bus or train, or sitting on the loo? Well, here at Spannered we are great believers that, despite the bloody internet following you around everywhere these days, the printed word is far from a moribund format. And Woofah Magazine — a soon-to-launch independently produced music fanzine — looks promising.

Angled squarely at a bassbin worshipping readership, its pages are set to cover dancehall, grime, dubstep, dub, bashment, roots, 'and all points in between'. It also has some of the biggest brains in bassbin-related blogland chipping in with contributions; and its publishers assure us that Woofah won't feature 'adverts or re-hashed press releases'. So, in a marketplace chock-full of music rags that'd sell their own grandmothers for a wrap of cheap gak, we figure Woofah has got to be worth a look.

Issue one, featuring the likes of Pinch, Skepta and Iration Steppas, is currently at print. For more info, check out Woofah Magazine's site.

 

 Edit. Woofah sent us a copy a couple of weeks ago — and we've since been field testing it on the bus, the train and on the loo. And fair play, it's a pretty fine read, especially the interviews with Pinch and Mark Iration. Most of the reviews are pretty bloody decent too, even if ageing bastards like us need a magnifying glass to read them. Thank you sirs, roll on issue two.

Although somewhat overshadowed in the news by the worst aviation tragedy in Brazilian history, in São Paulo on Tuesday, Rio de Janeiro has been a world focus for the past week — with the opening of the 2007 Pan American Games. The Games have come under heavy scrutiny across the host country, with spending soaring high over budget and small-scale protests kicking off around Rio against measures implemented by the municipal government. There are, however, bigger concerns, such as Rio's military police stepping up their invasions of the city's favelas, and the government's failure to deliver on promises made to many favela communities regarding improvement of local sports infrastructures. Greg Scruggs is currently living in the Rio favela of Rocinha, and has put together a great piece for Spannered that ties many of these threads together.

Greg is proprietor of Beat Diaspora, a pretty amazing blog orientated towards the funk and favelas of Rio. After a brief hiatus the posts are beginning to roll in again. For an insightful and very readable introduction to the whole funk phenomenon, go and check his Notes from the Hillside article written for the Harvard Advocate.

We don't make a habit of using Spannered's blog as a clubbing calendar ('Why the hell not? You don't use it for a fat lot else', we hear you cry...) — however, we didn't need our editorial arm twisting too much to give this a quick mention.

 

Friday 20 July sees Spannered associate, demon tune selector and all-round good egg DJ C dropping into London to large up the dance with local raggamuffins Heatwave. The party runs from 9pm-2am at The Pool, Curtain Road, and won't cost you a penny (unless you want to get drunk that is, or decide to trip over to Brick Lane for a cheeky salt beef bagel). More information can be found at Heatwave's site and Murdochspace.

 

Heatwave are responsible for some of the most rocking dancehall/reggae-flavoured bootlegs to come out in recent years. We really can't recommend their stuff enough. (Now's probably a good opportunity to remind you that Spannered is hosting two great mixes from the old Musicalbear site by Heatwave's Gabriel — you can grab 'em here and here.)

 

Boston's DJ C has just this week dropped his debut full-length LP, entitled Sonic Weapons. The album features a bewildering array of guest musicians and has a lot of bounce to the ounce. We suggest you track it down asap.

Poster: Pro tools or logic? explain plz.

Albini: ‘I don't use computers to make records. I use tape machines, like nature intended. I use computers for correspondence, arguments, poker and porn.’

It may be old news on blogs by now, but someone out there will be thankful for the posting of this thread from an online poker site, which sees Steve Albini working pretty hard at getting a repetitive strain injury. For the most part, the exchange is a sharp, informative mix of wit and wisdom, touching on music history, tech stuff, Nirvana, how many musicians he's 'nailed'... and of course poker!

 

We'll pulled together a few snippets, but anyone with the faintest interest in Albini's work, the indie scene, or the workings of the music industry, would do well to spend a couple of hours picking through the whole 30+ pages:

 

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Albini: 'I've used this analogy before, but I like it, so I'll use it again: While the recording is underway, I'm like a gynecologist, and it would be inappropriate for me to be getting turned-on by the vagina I'm working on at the moment. I need to have a different relationship with the vagina.'

 

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Poster: I think that the past 10 years give or take have seen really [censored] music. Mostly just brainwashed junk where nobody seems to stand out.

Albini: 'Nothing ever stands out. You have to look for anything you might like. Clearly you have given up looking...I think you're a defeatist and you are destined not to enjoy music. If you wait for other people to thrust music under your nose, you'll be listening to nothing but crap for a long while, because that's what gets thrust at us. Music is not a spectator sport.'

 

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Poster: How is your hearing?

Albini: 'Good enough, apparently.'

 

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Albini: 'I also pride myself on being a bargain. A lot of people in my position try to maximize their income on every project, and eventually they price themselves out of the scene where all the good music is, and end up doing a few sessions a year for music that totally sucks. By keeping my rates reasonable, I get to work with all the good bands, not just those who have money and hype behind them at the moment.'

 

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Poster: Do drummers always turn up late?

Albini: No, drummers have girlfriends with cars. Guitarists and singers are always late because they're on the bus.

 

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Poster: How do you keep your objectivity when it comes to your own performances (and bandmates, whom you are close with)?

Albini: 'Making a record isn't an objective exercise like counting peaches in a basket. Objectivity has no place in the creative part of the recording process. In the technical side, yes. The equipment and the technique need to be appropriate for the job, and most of the time that means operating everything within its technically-correct specifications, and with two engineers in the band, that part is pretty easy.

I am convinced that any decent art (including records) is made with a measure of disregard for its audience. Good art is an almost entirely selfish pursuit, in that the artist is doing something unique to him, and any outside perspective (this "objective" one) would be ignorant and unable to judge it completely. Having seen many bands go through the process, I am convinced that making concessions to the imaginary audience (or any "objective" considerations) almost always weakens the record.

Good records are made by freakishly-obsessed people, driven to do what only they can do, and their thinking and processes are often "objectively" wrong. Objective measures are at best a benchmark of mediocrity and shouldn't be in consideration.'

 

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Poster: Vinyl or Digital?

Albini: Neither. I go straight for the vagina. You find them on women.

First off, the seemingly unstoppable first series of Blogariddims podcasts finally ground to a halt last month, with Ottawa's Paul Autonomic laying down just over an hour of brain-trembling Shackleton, Mala and Kode9 rhythms, Bristol beats and Basic Channel-related goodness. All 24 instalments are still downloadable - and there are some real crackers in there, believe.

The aforementioned Shackleton — one of the most interesting characters to come out of London's current deluge of dark bass music — made an appearance on DJ/ rupture's WFMU Mudd Up! show a couple of weeks back. Just one month new and the series is already essential listening each Wednesday; you're guaranteed to hear some very cool, unexpected stuff. All shows are archived up on the WFMU site.

Nice thread on African music running over at Dubstepforum. Along with Spannered favourites such as Benn loxo du taccu and Awesome Tapes from Africa, there's a ton of other links and recommendations, and much love for the late, great Fela Kuti. It's the tenth anniversary of his death next month — if you've not already seen it, do yourself a favour and take the time to watch this incredible documentary (parts 2-6 available here):

 

 

Recently interviewed by Spannered's Al Fresco, Timeblind has just put together his Fauna Mix. It's pretty much driving, tripped-out shades of techno from beginning to end, with some crushing dubstep rhythms and a dash of African Headcharge sprinkled in. And if you're a fan of Warp, Rising High, Bunker and Djax, Spannered also recommends you get an ear-full of Max Duley's latest — his How Now mix.

Closer to home, we're proud to host another selection of juicy cuts from cheeky monkey Hanuman - you can download of his Crafty Butcher mix just here.

 

Fancy submitting some audio for Radio Spannered? Why not drop us an email?