Monday, September 15, 2008

Big Bad Muthafucka Vol. 3 - Black Action Cinema 1970-1980 – Scores and Themes in three volumes -BLAXPLOITATION CONTEST

Voilà! Third volume of these incredible Funk comps is uploaded.
Wettbewerb/constest will follow its due course until November 30, 2008… don't hesitate to drop me an email, your tracklisting will be published without your contact details. We will be back with an African note in the coming days.

Rip your heart out with this mutha-fucking volume!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Big Bad Muthafucka Vol. 2 - Black Action Cinema 1970-1980 – Scores and Themes in three volumes -BLAXPLOITATION CONTEST

Part 2 of this little contest… Another 31 tracks of the best Blaxploitation soundtracks and movie dialogues. Read the previous post for the contest's rules. Of course, some of the tracks are pretty obvious: Shaft, Supefly and Black Caesar come to mind. But what about all the others? Before trying to solve this puzzle, pay a visit to the Blaxploitation reference website. This should wet your appetite.
As said before, I did not create these comps, so I am pretty much in the same position as you: I do know some of the tracks, but I haven't got a clue about the others…
Get Volume 2 here

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Big Bad Muthafucka Vol. 1 - Black Action Cinema 1970-1980 – Scores and Themes in three volumes -BLAXPLOITATION CONTEST

First Volume of what is without doubt the best Blackexploitation music compilation ever. These were lifted from the now deceased RecordBrother blog.
It was one of the first blog I discovered and the owner seemed every bit as ecclectic as I am. I was lured there by a search for Movie Biker Music. Sadly, the owner had already pulled his compilation off… Anybody has it? Drop me a line! If it is of the same quality as his Blackexploitation comps, it must be the MOTHER of all 70's Biker Movie comps. Reward given to anybody who can shift it my way - end of disgression. RecordBrother was obviously a DJ and these 70's Black music were pulled from his tape comps, that means there no info on song title/artist or movie the dialogues were taken from.
That's where my little contest kicks in: Identify all tracks in this comp, complete with artist's name, song title (or movie name) and I will give a free Premium Rapidshare account for one month. You just need to leave your findings in the comments section of this post… be sure to ID yourself as I can't give the prize to A. Nonymous… Drop me your email (I won't publish it).
It gets better: there are three volumes in all in this series and they all suffer from the missing info. The contest will be reconducted for each volume. Even more: if somebody finds ALL song info on all 3 VOLUMES, I will offer you a ONE-YEAR Premium Rapidshare account.
If not all info is found, the participant with most correct answers will win the final prize.
I have to warn you: finding all the info won't be easy, but could be a good occasion to search through your record and video collection…

A Premium Rapidshare account is vital if you like the blogs listed on the right. This type of account will allow you to download without restriction and without waiting time as many albums in parralel as you 'puter will stand. For example, DLing all of rideyourpony's post will take you more than a month…full time!

Have fun, here is Volume one

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Service Announcement

The Joe Meek Freakbeat will be the last purely 60's Psych/Garage
for a while.
We are going to make a slight detour towards Africa… Fear not: no unbearable lengthy bongo jams will be allowed. What you'll discover is some pretty crazy & interesting psych and funk. But first, I'll give you a refresher's course in Blackexploitation with a little contest (hey, Wettbewerb-time!) with a prize at hand.
This will be up in the next few days. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

You're holding Me Down: Joe Meek Freakbeat

Bent. Paranoid to the extreme. Control freak. Closet Queen. Weirdo. Everything has been said over Joe Meek. All that is left of him now is his music. Although better know for his instrumental successes (Telstar, anyone?), he also produced some fine R&B-derived rock music, much of which prefigured the British Invasion sound by several years. Joe Meek, inventor of the Freakbeat?

Although touted as Britain's own Phil Spector, it is safe to say that Phil's character pales in comparison. Given the social and moral environment of early ‘60s Britain, it’s tempting to think that Joe Meek’s repressed sexuality and fragile mental state played the major part in shaping his creativity, but he built the first TV in his town, was an RAF radio engineer, a technician with the Midlands Electricity Board, and before branching out on his own was a BBC sound engineer. He did not last at the BBC because his methodology of altering recordings was completely at odds with tradition.

So, in his rooms above a leather goods store at 304 Holloway Road in London, Meek became Britain’s first independent record producer, pioneering special effects, tape reversal, direct imput of the bass guitar, close-mic’ing, and multi-tracking. It remains remarkable that he was able to emulate stereophonic sound on his 1959 recordings I Hear a New World, possibly the world’s first concept album.
Anyone who’s ever thought they sounded better singing in the bathroom, or felt that drumming on a table or door felt right should be able to relate to Joe Meek, who covered his lack of musical talent with his use of echo, reverb, compression, home made electronics, innovative sound sources, and ideas about the separation of instruments. Understanding of technology was one of his strengths, but instead of using equipment to emulate what already existed or make it cleaner, Meek was on a quest to harness his imagination
into sound.

This CD comes from the later part of his carrer, when, deprived of the income his hits had generated, tortured by the implications of his sexual orientation, he was desperately trying to invent a new sound. Sadly, just when the Beatles were expressing an interest in his work, Joe killed his landlady in a fit of paranoia-driven madness and then shot himself, on the anniversary of the death of his hero, Buddy Holly.

30 nuggets indeed…