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VIDA DE-sign by Michael Buckingham, aka Mick Muttley

Dear friends (yeah really, one of those) I have become a women's wear designer for VIDA! http://shopvida.com/collections/voices/ ...

Wednesday 27 November 2013

SubVersion Stop 216: The Dublings + Mackating @ The Cellar, Oxford - 26th November 2013

The Dublings + Mackating @ The Cellar, 26th November 2013



Mackating are no strangers to the local reggae circuit. The first time I saw them, Christmas Eve 2006, was my first ever gig in Oxford. Tonight they are DJing and the drummer is even serving drinks behind the bar. And before The Dublings commence their set, we're ineffably sated by their back-to-back mixing.

A version of Jean Knight's soul classic "Mr Big Stuff" goes down well among tonight's paltry attendance, ramping the energy following, providing cool contrast to the understated, reserved demeanour of The Dublings, a white and mixed race dub group who are joining them on the decks before they break into band mode.

"Who do you think you are?" sang Knight. A new five-piece group of reggae and dub lovers brought together by the foundations of dub - soundsystem bass weight, party vibes and a vestige to channel Lee Perry through enough red hot vinyl in this, the opening lines. Staccato live drum bursts on one recording imbue the set with a rare urgency to excite. Although the blending isn't trickery-heavy, Mackating and The Dublings start by giving the lungs of dub in relation to its more renowned cousin reggae a hearty connection throughout.

Now, the band: female/male vocalist, three electrics, a drummer, "from the outside in", as the female vocalist sings. An Adele-like register. The incantations "there must be more I can do, there must be more I can say" is resplendent with boy-girl singalong charm it's difficult not to like. Epic poetry percussion peppers our narrative with a punk energy united to electric wah-wah, as they invite us to "keep it on the down low". A punkier vibe then abounds The Cellar, turning in a detour of dub, amping the reservation sensibility on its head in favour of rock-out periods. Contrast between band members who aren't very imposing but make imposing noise is a paradox full of beans, inviting seeing dub being less about aesthetic dynamics and more about weight of the sub sound.

The certainty is: The Dublings shouldn't be off your Christmas card list before long. Catch them as they rise through ranks of the local scene.

Mick Buckingham

The Dublings' SoundCloud

Friday 15 November 2013

SubVersion Stop 215: Buying one record reviewed in The Wire each month...

...is something I started earlier this year after renewing my subscription to The Wire, now jointly with my mate Martyn. (The magazines in fact go to him.)

Anyway, the idea is a simple one. I read through all the reviews — no small task, as they usually run to 20+ pages of small print — noting down records I think I might be interested in. Then I go online and find extracts/clips from these records to listen to, whittling the list down to two or three or six. Eventually I decide upon one record and then go and buy it.

The points of doing this are several:
1) It gives me the impetus read every word of a magazine I've paid for. #moneysworth
2) It gives me the impetus to seek out and (potentially) be excited by new music which I might not otherwise do. #naturallylazy
3) It gives me a small topic of conversation with my mate. #thingstosay
4) It enables me to make a list of them all. #statto

I actually started doing this with the April 2013 issue (#350), but I've subsequently gone back and looked at the three earlier issues to see if I'd inadvertently bought anything reviewed in those as well (which I had); and I've skimmed the new issue (#358) too and seen that I've already bought something from that. So I can now make an entire list for 2013. Hurrah! And if I add three more records (reviewed in 2013 issues) which I've also bought, I can make a proper Wire "Chart". So here it is:

SubVersion 2013 15

#347 James Blackshaw & Ludomyr Melnyk - The Watchers (Important)
#348 various - Wandelweiser und so weiter (Another Timbre)
#349 John Edwards & Okkyung Lee - White Cable, Black Wires (Fataka)
#350 Pat Thomas - Al-Khwarizmi Variations (Fataka)
#351 Mainliner - Revelation Space (Riot Season)
#352 Lee Patterson & Vanessa Rossetto - Temperament as Waveform (Another Timbre)
#353 Boards of Canada - Tomorrow's Harvest (Warp)
#354 Nohome - Nohome (Trost)
#355 Ras G and the Afrikan Space Program - Back on the Planet (Brainfeeder)
#356 Tom Johnson / Samuel Vriezen - The Chord Catalogue / Within Fourths / Within Fifths (Edition Wandelweiser)
#357 SOS - Looking for the Next One (Cuneiform)
#358 NRSB-11 - Commodified (WeMe)

+#355 DJ Sprinkles - Queerifications & Ruins (Mule Musiq)
+#356 Robert Haigh - Darkling Streams (Primary Numbers)
+#356 Omar Souleyman - Wenu Wenu (Ribbon Music)

Compiled by Jonathan Tait, subvertcentral.blogspot.co.uk

Monday 4 November 2013

SubVersion Stop 214: Muttley's Dream Journal Days 9-10

November 1 Dream

A whole story sequence of cartoon proportions in a long, affecting blend where Brody, Kurt and Walter attack one another.Walter was trying to catch up with Kurt on a race course only to be wrongfooted. Brody was envious of Kurt's position and demeanour. It turns out Walter and Kurt were conspiring against Brody. Brody went with Kurt up a scoop that took them into a shopping mall. The shutters were closed on the shop and Walter had caught up with them. The dream ended with Brody's throat being 'cut' but not in a damaging way, just a way out of the dream related to my own breathing.

November 4 Dream

I had a new girlfriend with blonde hair, the sister of someone who I used to know on Facebook, but only theoretically. We were getting on well in a speed dating kind of way.

If anything these dreams are telling me to get out there and date, but not be foolhardy about it. 

Friday 1 November 2013

SubVersion Stop 213: Muttley's Dream Journal Days 5-8

October 26

Weird dream. Got too close to a horse's back legs while rollerblading upwards over a bridge. The horse turned into one of our dogs and was foaming at the mouth trying to attack me while I leapt up onto a steel building site frame. I was sampling a new 2CD wedding style DJ CD player. I used to have a Gemini one since 2004 when I started DJing.

October 27

Various forgotten thoughts, outlined by schoolkids drawing on each other in the playground with red pen.

What is it with me and schoolkids?

October 28

Back down South where I used to live. Instead of a good friend working at my local Sainsbury's as she did in 2012, I'd gone into the corner shop down South and she was working in there. I got served by someone else as she seemed distressed.

October 31

A new exhilarating feeling was a car with me in it being driven over a steep incline so that we were airborne for over 10 seconds.