What a week; many of you will only have worked three days, many will have put in a full five. Either way, you all get an MPFree EP, albeit with only four tracks.
The final song this week is a quality slice of hip hop. It comes from Oddisee whose 2009 album Mental Liberation has just been re-released. It's also currently free to download (yep, the whole album) from Bandcamp.
The track we've opted for though is Hip Hop's Cool Again. Boom.
Your tracks this week are:
Low - Especially Me
Tune-yards - Bizness
Beth Jeans Houghton - Dodecahedron
Odissee - Hip Hop's Cool Again
Some tracks may no longer be available for download.
Now, I'm not sure if you've heard this rumour too, but apparently there's some kind of massive wedding going on. To mark such an occasion, we have a wedding-based Memory Tapes.
The tape was sent to us by Rhiannon, who writes:
"Ric and I got married last October. As a wedding favour we gave our guests our very own compilation 'Now That's What I Call A Wedding'!
"Our wedding was on Halloween so for the party we filled the function room of our local pub with Halloween tack and stuff to dress up in - we danced our first dance to Stevie Wonder 'For Once in My Life' surrounded by ghosts, people with fake daggers going through their head and even some covered in fake blood! Ric's uncle was unrecognizable as a drunk grave digger. It was brilliant!!!"
The couple also designed a cover for the CD. Here's the front:
And here's the back, complete with tracklisting:
If you'd like to submit your Memory Tape, then email Lauren a tracklisting and any artwork you have. Thanks.
Beth Jeans-Houghton is preparing for the release of her debut full-length album through Mute records, and this my friends, is a little taster.
The album is expected in the autumn and follows on from her Hot Toast EP. Early signs are very promising, and you can see her play a live one-off date in May at London's Roundhouse.
Beth Jeans Houghton - Dodecahedron
Hello you! Wednesday greetings if you're either back at work for another couple of days or enjoying the Bank Holiday largesse.
We're delighted to announce a late addition to today's lineup in the shape of a session from Alessi's Ark. The twenty-year-old aka Alessi Laurent-Marke has just released her second album Time Travel, her first for the Bella Union label, and will be playing some live UK dates next month.
Today's webchat comes from Garri Rayner, the man behind a host of cool travel websites such as Hotel Haiku, we launch another People's Playlist and there's the small matter of today's MPFree which comes from one of 4AD's recent success stories, Tuneyards.
It's a track called Bizness from her new album whokill which was released last week and she'll be back in the UK in June for some shows in London, Manchester, Aberdeen and Glasgow.
Every Tuesday technology guru Stuart Dredge brings us news and reviews of some of the latest downloads for your Smart phone as we tap in to App culture.
Today’s selections cover art, poetry and charity. First off we look at a couple of apps which have been established to help raise money for charity.
Momotaro is a boy found asleep in a giant peach who goes on a quest to hunt the demon who stole his village’s food. Interactive and educational it’s been developed in association with UNICEF and proceeds go towards victims of the Japanese earthquake. The app is available for £1.19.
Amnesty International celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and Mobigame have teamed up with the Human Rights charity to develop Bulletproof which retails at 79p. Available on iPhone or iPad you stop bullets coming at you from a firing squad. (NB: It has a rather scarey trailer) £1.19.
Slewpi; a fun “painterly musical synthesiser” for iPad. You choose colours and brushes and paint on screen. This creates music. Similar to the ‘Brushes’ app as used extensively by David Hockney but with music in a synaesthesia style. Retails at 59p. Can be used by the DJ or musician for creating interesting high quality synth lines, effects and transitions that sync precisely to music with sample accurate timing. Slewpi can also be used by the VJ or ‘Visualist’ and features real-time external video output. Simply plug your device into a projector and open Slewpi to fill the wall and room with lush painterly visuals and delicious synth sounds.
To follow on from Jon's blog, here's the apps which were late additions to Stuart's feature this morning.
Clean London: Alert your London Authority to crimes against the envirnoment in your Borough and receive progress updates.
Vevo: the 'Youtube for music videos' launched in the UK this morning complete with snazzy apps. It's been billed as MTV - The Next Generation.
Morning all! Normal service is resumed, for us at any rate, following on from Friday and yesterday's extremely busy Requestathon. Many thanks for all of your splendid requests. Sorry that we couldn't get round to all of them but hopefully we'll be able to work through the backlog over the coming weeks.
The new Communion Records signing Michael Kiwanuka is our first live session of the week. He's a young Londoner influenced by John Martyn, Bob Dylan and Terry Callier. Looking forward to that.
Stuart Dredge returns to talk Apps, today with a charitable theme and of course there's the first of this week's free downloads for you.
Today's gift comes from the atmospheric Minnesotan trio Low who released their latest album C'mon last month. 'Especially Me' is the gently simmering track from it.
Greetings to you on this Good Friday Bank Holiday and many thanks for choosing to spend part of your day with us. It's very nice to have you along.
It's been a super week for live music which included sessions from Guillemots, The Zombies and The About Group, and on Tuesday Danger Mouse and Daniele Luppi came in to chat about their new album Rome, which features contributions from Jack White and Nora Jones.
It was in honour of Wednesday's appearance of 60s/70s legends Rod Argent and Colin Bluntstone that we decided to make this week's EP cover a sunny psychedelic confection, so we decided to go with Joe Green's lovely piece of what we think may be your actual inspiral carpet.
The last time she was heard on record was backing Darren 'Hefner' Hayman on his single 'Circle of Trust' from the back end of 2010.
Now Emmy the Great's back in her own right with a new album, Virtue due out in mid-June about which she is "very excited". You can share her excitement by downloading your free track from it, 'A Woman, A Woman, A Century of Sleep' here.
Also exciting is today's session from improv specialists the About Group whose second album Start and Complete, recorded in just one day at Abbey Road studios, is out on Domino. Between them the band have served time in This Heat, Spiritualized, Derek Bailey and Hot Chip.
Tomorrow's the first of the nice sequence of Bank Holidays (UK listeners only) so we're also taking requests for Friday's show. Roll up, roll up... anything you like! Email, text or tweet in your choices.
It's probably fair to say that Lee "Scratch" Perry is big in the game, whether he's making large sounding records or claiming to be an inflammable superman. Which is why it's nice he's only gone and made a new album called
Rise Again, which you can have a track from for free today.
Higher Level is produced by Bill Laswell, and features a vocal turn from TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe as if Perry himself wasn't enough. Perfect if it's sunny where you are today, and you can grab
Rise Again when it comes out on May 9th.
Lee Scratch Perry ft Tunde Adebimpe - Higher LevelNot that we're obsessed with the weather or anything but it's going to be hot Hot! HOT!! today.
Whether you're on (Roman) holiday or not you're sure to enjoy today's lineup which will include a chat with producer/remixer/rapper Danger Mouse and composer/arranger Daniel Luppi who have teamed up to produce the lush new album Rome, an homage to the Italian film soundtracks of the 50s and 60s.
Stuart Dredge looks at the latest apps available for your smart phone and listener Lisa Lynch provides today's Biorhythm selections.
Of course there's another MPFree available for you to download and today's gift is from The Serenades, a Swedish duo who provide lush chamber pop. 'Birds' is their debut track which will be available on vinyl in their homeland but you can get it here.
Not that we're obsessed with the weather or anything but it's going to be hot Hot! HOT!! today.
Whether you're on (Roman) holiday or not you're sure to enjoy today's lineup which will include a chat with producer/remixer/rapper Danger Mouse and composer/arranger Daniel Luppi who have teamed up to produce the lush new album Rome, an homage to the Italian film soundtracks of the 50s and 60s.
Stuart Dredge looks at the latest apps available for your smart phone and listener Lisa Lynch provides today's Biorhythm selections.
Of course there's another MPFree available for you to download and today's gift is from The Serenades, a Swedish duo who provide lush chamber pop. 'Birds' is their debut track which will be available on vinyl in their homeland but you can get it here.
Every Tuesday at 1110 technology writer Stuart Dredge beams in to bring us news and reviews from the download world with a feature we've dubbed Planet of the Apps.
You can listen live or listen again to Stuart's on air descriptions, but here's a precis of this week's apps under discussion. (Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of external links)
News content:
Mind control apps story
W.I.L.D
Tug of Mind
iTunes festival 2011
Reebok's 'guilt trip' running app
50 Cent's Blackberry Twitter app
Reviews:
Andy Nyman's Mindreader
Kraftwerk's Kling Klang machine
Nursery Rhymes with StoryTime (video advert)
Gorillaz Korg iELECTRIBE 1.0.0
Whether you've made the great Easter getaway or you're still in work mode for another few days, we're sure that today's line up will have you grasping the start of the new week with a nice air of positivity.
Friend of the show Fyfe Dangerfield is in full effect as a live session from Guillemots at 11.40. It's a new music Monday and we'll be chatting to Tracey Thorn who's splendid new single 'You Are A Lover' is out now, with a special Independent Record Store Day 10" vinyl version also available. Unless it's already sold out...
Today's MPFree comes courtesy of two people riding the crest of a critical wave. Swedish singer Lykke Li's track 'Sadness Is A Blessing' from her Wounded Rhymes album has been remixed by Gold Panda, the Essex based artist/DJ/producer whose Lucky Shiner album won the paludits last year.
Red squirrel stretches for nuts.
Ezra Koenig - Papa Hobo
And So I Watch You From Afar - BeautifulUniverseMasterChampion
My Morning Jacket - Circuital
Memory Tapes - Today Is My Life
Huey's 6 Music Independent Record Store Day mix
Another fine selection of free downloads for you, with a bit of an American bias this week.
Kicking off is Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig's version of Paul Simon's Papa Hobo, then it's over to Belfast for a track And So I Watch You From Afar's forthcoming album. Jim James' My Morning Jacket also offer up a forthcoming album track, the title track in fact, before Memory Tapes from New Jersey chip in with their effort.
We close the week and preview tomorrow's Independent Record Store Day with and exclusive five minute mix by DJ Yoda of Huey Morgan's choices from the very limited edition vinyl.
It showcases six five minute mixes featuring the Top 20 Independent Record choices of Lauren Laverne, Jarvis Cocker, Cerys Matthews, Radcliffe & Maconie, Huey Morgan and Steve Lamacq.
6 copies of the promotional vinyl have been sent to each of the participating Independent Record Stores to giveaway on a first come first serve basis.
The links for all of this week's five songs are listed below and in honour of Wednesday's star guest, Mr Bootsy Collins, we invited you to send in a picture of your definition of funky. Many thanks to Alexander Richards of Fife for this star shape throwing Red Squirrel.
If you don't have chance to go down to a record store you can download all the mixes on the 6 Music website.
As if you didn't know it's Independent Record Store Day tomorrow and 6 Music is doing its bit to champion these redoubtable music outlets via its own limited edition 12" EP which will be available on a first-come-first-served basis at participating stores.
Today's Memory Tapes follows on this theme, being a free compilation CD curated by the Brighton shop Resident Records to tie in with last year's event.
It was discovered by 6 Music listener Ro Cemm in the bottom of his bag following a visit to the store so let's lift it outof the bag and on to the radio!
Ro Cemm's 2010 Memory Tape from Resident Records of Brighton.
Owing to circumstances beyond our control J Mascis will no longer be coming in for a session.
In his place is Ben Howard, an estimable young West Country contender recently signed to the Communion label. He's popping in for a couple of songs and a chat prior to his gig at The Borderline in London tonight.
Today's free download comes from a band who, coincidentally, share a name with one of our Friday features...
Dayve Hawks, aka Memory Tapes, a New Jersey based musician is set to release his second album Player Piano in July and here's a taster for it; a sun-kissed blast of fluttery West Coast pop called Today Is Our Life.
Dazzled as we were by the arrival into the studio of the Emperor of Funk Bootsy Collins(!) the rest of the show wasn't half bad either.
We welcomed your space race related tunes for the Peoples' Playlist and there was a Web Chat with Rich Thane, founder of the award winning music website The Line of Best Fit.
And now for the sweety inside the rapper, today's MPFree from a band familiar to 6 Music listeners, My Morning Jacket. Their seventh studio album Circuital will be released on May the 31st and you can download for free the title track from it direct from their website.
Got one them fancy Smart phones? 'Appen you'll be wanting something to put on it then.
Luckily, in a brand new feature that we're calling Planet of the Apps, technology expert Stuart Dredge will trawl through this ever expanding universe and report his findings to us every Tuesday. We'll provide links to each of them so that you can check them out and decide if you want to download them.
In part one Stuart brings us App news, including your chance to remix tracks from David Bowie's Golden Years album, the band who bcame the first to make their album entirely via the GarageBand app and how you can now 'check in' to TV shows on Facebook.
He'll also be reviewing three new apps: the interactive Situationist, photo sharer Color and 'the curated and social video experience' that is SquareEyes.
Another Biorhythm contender offers up his mood altering musical choices and talking of which the ever popular indie-folk from Providence, Long Island, The Low Anthem provide what promises to be a charged live session.
There's also the second of this week's free download tracks for you and today's selection makes a tenuous nod to the fiftieth anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's entry into orbit and the history books.
It's called BeautifulUniverseMasterChampion from hard rocking Belfast quartet And So I Watch You From Afar which will be the opening track on their forthcoming album 'Gangs'.
It's week 15 on the fifteenth of the month and today's free download for you is a song written by the man who wrote 'April, Come She Will' and 'Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover'. If he'd called it 'Fifteen Ways To Leave Your Lover' that would have been serendipitous indeed.
As it is we'll settle for the near miss especially as it's a faithful cover version of a Paul Simon song by a member of the group who wear their admiration for the man on their preppy, pastel coloured sleeves.
The group is Vampire Weekend, the band member is Ezra Koenig and the song is 'Papa Hobo', cut from Mr. Simon's eponymous 1972 solo debut LP following his parting of the ways with Art Garfunkel and we hope very much that your enjoy it.
It will appear on the soundtrack of the film 'Ceremony' starring Uma Thurman and will also feature the music of Pete Townsend, Van Dyke Parks and Ringo Starr. The movie score has been composed by Fruit Bats' Eric Johnson.
Following the rip-roaring (or should that be tweeting?) success of the animal sounds-themed Workers Playtime run yesterday, our metaphorical postbag was similarly bursting with pictures of your furry friends when we put out an appeal for one of them to grace the EP's cover.
It was a very tough decision, but David's startling picture of his Hamster Splodge was the stand out entry. (Many thanks to all of you for submitting your pictures. There was an outbreak of oohing and aahing in the studio whilst the music was playing)
So here is Splodge enjoying some downtime in a green plastic bowl. (Not that hamsters particularly have 'up' time)
We close the week with a track created by three very disparate musicians; Graham Coxon, Bill Ryder-Jones from The Coral and Paloma Faith. It's called 'Desire' and it's from the Create campaign by a well known sports/leisure footwear firm. (Loads of other brands are obviously available)
This week's MPFrees:
Jahdaan Blakkamoore - All Comes Back To One (Nate Mars remix)
Okkervil River - Wake and Be Fine
Cloud Control - This Is What Yo Mama Said (Fishing remix)
Diamond Doves - Club Night
Graham Coxon, Paloma Faith and Bill Ryder-Jones - Desire
(Some tracks be no longer be available for download)
It's definitely a tape of two halves from this week's submission which was kindly submitted by Jeni Cook who goes back to the late 80s for this C90 compilation, although you wouldn't perhaps have gathered that from the tracks)
Jeni says:
"This tape was made for me by my friend Gabriella Palmano. It was 1987 and I was having a little party for my daughter Hollie who was a year old on January 1st and Gab's was on the 2nd. Mine was coming up on the 12th so we partied to this. I played this to death on my 'cassette pet' Walkman and can't believe it's still going strong to this day 24 years on. All the tracks have stood the test of time!
I'm sensing that there was possibly a bit of side flipping going on to break up the mood on occasion. Not sure if Malcolm McClaren would have been happy on the B-side...
Nice handwriting too.
The sunsheeine continues and as that isn't enough to make you smile we're joined by comedia/actor/broadcaster Chris Addison, perhaps best known for his role as hapless Oliver Reeder from In The Thick of It, who'll be returning to his Mancunian comedy roots for a show on Dave next week. He's also got a veeery long standup tour starting later this year.
People's Playlist welcomed your many suggestions for songs containing animal noises and there's a definite good weeather vibe with music from Roy Ayers, Razzy and Stevie Wonder amongst a clutch of excellent new tunes.
Your free download comes courtesy of New Yorkers Diamond Doves, who also have a 'day job' as members of Elvis Perkins in Dearland. This is the title track from their current album Club Night.
Dig In!
Following yesterday's relatively gloomy weather (not that we're obesessed or anything) there's a return to (relatively speaking) phew-what-a-scorcher weather. So what better way to illustrate this than a welcome airing for Pentangle's 'Light Flight'?
Talking of things pastoral we chat to Robin Turner one of the chaps from caughtbytheriver.net, a splendid website that delights in pastoral pursuits and music, books and films that are inspired by and celebrate this.
Let's hope that New Zealand's The Naked & Famous (in session today) welcomed in the morning sun following last night's gig at Koko in Camden. They fly off to LA virtually straight after the session for a North American tour.
Now, back to MPFree matters (and keeping on an Antipodean tip) today's download comes from Cloud Control, the Australian band who're sound to Infectious and currently on tour in the UK and Ireland. The track is a remix of the track from their album Bliss Release which will be out on May the 23rd.
The track is called This Is What Yo Mama Said (Fishing remix) Don't let this one get away...
It's a bit gloomier here in London town today so we thought we'd reflect that in the choice of tune, especially after yesterday's sunshine sound. (It may be a little darker but it's still very uplifting!)
Okkervil River hail from Austin, Texas, a place not renowned for its heavy precipitation but whom nonetheless evoke an atmosphere of rainier climes. They've been around since 1998 and are about to release their seventh album I Am Very Far and will be visiting London for a one-off date at Heaven on May the 16th.
You can get your free download of their new track Wake and Be Fine from their website.
On the show today we launched a new feature, waving a fond farewell to DJ Vu and a big hello to Bio-Rhythms! Basically we're wanting you to submit three tracks each of which correspond to your physical, emotional and intellectual feelings, the life cycles or biorhythms which, some believe affect our moods and general well being.
So which song makes you feel like dancing, which one gets you weepy and which one gives you an intellectual sense of superiority?
If you'd like to have your choices aired and chat to Lauren on air then email the show from Lauren's page and we could be in touch!
We kick off a new week and a new 6 Music schedule with what we reckon is a freaky new hybrid musical genre. Perhaps.
Jahdaan Blakkamoore's All Comes Back To One (Nate Mars Remix) is a 'soporific dubstep/melodic reggae/flutter-dub' crossover which we reckon sets off the new summer season like a pair of high-waisted khaki jodphurs over some soft canvas brogue effect plimsolls.
Not sure what the Brooklyn based man himself would make of this fashion statement of intent but perhaps if you're in Portland, Oregon, on Friday you could ask him should you be passing the Mt Tabor Theatre where he's performing that evening.
Your MPFree today is a journey of discovery, and comes from Steve, who writes...
"It was mid-1990, and I was still rocking the double denim look, having fallen for The Smiths and Morrissey in a big way.
"Having missed out on Spike Island and the second summer of love, I realised I was already past it at 18. Everyone else was wearing baggy kecks, had curtains for hair and waved glo-sticks in fields near Warrington at the weekend. It was time for me to learn about this thing they called 'dance music'. So I asked one of the girls at my local vinyl-pile, Action Records on Church St, to whip me up a tape of salvation/education.
"A friend of a friend, Jackie, thankfully took pity on me and did the honours. Not all of it was her choice. I asked for Hippychick (which famously sampled How Soon Is Now) as a sop to my indie heritage, though swiftly it became my least favourite of the tracks. I never did end up taking the train to the Bank Quay for late night raves. I didn't even really grow my hair. But I did add this to my list of Walkman-friendly cassettes for the rest of that summer.
"So, what did I learn from my "dance education"? Dunno. I spent most of my first year at uni playing George Formby songs at top volume and drinking."
Nice story; here's a picture of the tape (Look at it! It really could only have been made in 1990) with the tracklisting scribbled on.
Would you like to submit your Memory Tape? Go on, send Lauren an email with a tracklisting, the story and any cover art.
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|11:35 UK time, Friday, 29 April 2011
