Scritti Politti - White Bread, Black Beer
I GOT SCRITTI Politti’s album a while ago. I only knew the band from seeing their name on Club Retro flyers 10 years ago, seeing it there I was never tempted to go further. And first listen to the latest, White Bread, Black Beer, didn’t tempt me to think differently. I would have put it aside, but a K-Punk review describing it as “quietly brilliant” tempted me back and I’m really glad I did. It’s weird and kinda awkward at times, like Pet Shop Boys doing Prince, but with elements of hip hop, sugary over-produced R&B and awkward, self-obsessed lyrics like the desperately bitter edge of Morrissey at his best. It’s lonely (Green’s on his own now, having split with his old post-punk cronies, as well as the ragga and hip hop MCs, according to Simon Reynolds), and sort of depressing, but also fascinating enough to keep going back to.
K-Punk and Reynolds have taken their discussion to very deep levels, hard to know sometimes with this level of discussion whether they’re finding things or making things. Still, hard to tear yourself away.
[...] The following mix of music may do to fill your 45 minutes. I haven’t DJed much this year, but I’ve been getting loads of records, maybe more than at any other time and they’ve all gotta go somewhere. Although, I have to say, this mix is not so much about new stuff as about reevaluating some brilliant older tracks such as the first one from Japanese trumpeter Toshinori Kondo. In fact, the only new ones are from new CDs by TV On The Radio and Scritti Politti and a demo CD from Sydney producer Milkrun - all three CDs mixed in to the set using my extremely high tech Teac CD player. [...]
Fortune Grey » Listen: Pastry Chef mix
11 Sep 06 at 8:21 am