Danny Walker`s Weblog - UK Grime, Funky, Electro, Dubstep, Nonsense & That: July 2007

Sunday, July 29, 2007

My Image-based Auto Response...

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Kano, Damon Albarn & Scratch

I'm currently listening to Kano's London Town LP, to be honest I'm undecided at the minute.

Quick Review: Kano's iTunes Gig

My mother always told me if you don't have anything good to say don't say anything.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Issue 68 - Out This Week!!!

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Issue 68 - Out This Week!!!

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- The Summer of Dub Issue -

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- Gracing out cover: DJ's Chef, Hijak & Hatcha -

With dubstep on radio (both legal and otherwise), in more clubs than ever and spread across the four corners of the world, this summer promises to be dubbing great... Hatcha, Chef and Hijak spread the word...

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- About To Blow in association with MTV Base -

***Faith SFX***

We speak to the human orchestra that is Faith SFX to find out why labels, Pepsi and Lily Savage are fans of the British beatboxer...

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One 2 Watch: Lil Mama

One 2 Watch: Futurecut

Head 2 Head: Tinchy Stryder Vs. The Hoosiers

Fergie

Richards Vs. Richardson

Last Word: R. Kelly

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For more info, pick up a copy at your local stockists, subscribe via text or visit http://www.rwdmag.com/

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Make sure you SUBSCRIBE to RWD Magazine and you'll never miss and issue!!! Simply text us to get RWD sent to your door every month. Just text 'RWD' and your name and full address to 81330. Eg. RWD Sarah Smith 12 Neckle Street London E3 5HQ.

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Friday, July 20, 2007

Guinness World Records: Man Takes Off Half His Face

This is A Lot... Warning make sure you eat AFTER you watch it.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Kano Preps For London Town

Damon Albarn, Craig David, Kate Nash and more to appear on next LP…

After Royal Mail pulled their finger out, Kano’s watermarked London Town album sampler arrived moments ago with a bang. Not only featuring the first single This Is The Girl it packed sure fire, potential second singles too and a few surprises from East London’s Kane Robinson.

Following up from 100k+ selling Home Sweet Home and street heating mixtapes, Beats + Bars and The Mixtape, the 25 year-old has linked up with a few famous faces/ voices on this project. As well as collabing with Fresh Outta Di Gym Craaaaaaig David on This Is The Girl the Brit nominated MOBO winner has joined forces with Damon Albarn and Kate Nash. Some may have already heard Feel Free and Me And My Mic - which features Mr Alban and Ms Nash respectively – but they are two melody-biased tracks which feature Kano the artist who’s officially not afraid of engagingly spiting what he wants and reflecting on his environment. Yes, Feel Feel could have been lifted straight off the last Gorillaz LP and on the 138 Trek-riddled reflecting Kate Nash number we hear the line “It was all a dream, I used to read RWD Magazine,” but that’s not why London Town has impressed so far. The onetime semi pro footballer/ pirate radio dweller is sounding less like a rave MC and more like polished artist.

“It sounds like grime but a little slower,” Kane slickly spits on the title track London Town and that can be said of the rest of the sampler. Except on Fighting the Nation where he’s singing, I repeat, singing. The acoustic song, which sees Kano hitting mid-range notes before jumping into fast paced lyrics, runs smooth side-by-side guitar strums. Lines like, “…Next thing you know there are armed police at the crib. Sirens so loud he has to read the Fed’s lips. What sounded like ‘Put you hands behind you head’ was actually… DON’T MOVE SO WE DON’T HAVE TO SHOOT!!!” intertwine with the chorus, “Police and thieves in the street… fighting the nation with guns and ammunition.” A different yet welcomed approach at first listen.

Stay tuned to these very pages for more London Town updates.

Check out Craig and Kane here…

London Town is out on September 3.

Friday, July 13, 2007

Xbox 360 Elite & Slimline PSP: So are you gonna upgrade?

This week more details were released about Microsoft’s 360 Elite…

Firstly, the price. £329.99. And secondly, the release date. August 24. Not only is the Elite console in a lovable matt blank but it’s packing a HD punch the Premium and the Core units can only wet dream of. Up to 1080p – television permitting – can be obtained right out of the grey box via the supplied HDMI cable. Not only that but, if you like to get your Marketplace download on, it also features a weighty 120GB hard drive. As there’s not much there - bar limited demos - we don’t see the point just yet, but it’s a start. Give us some of the TV content the Americans are lapping up and we’ll be even more grateful.

The PSP just got slimmer

Not much is known about the slimmer PSP just yet as it was announced at E3 only this week. If you don’t know what E3 is, it’s like that day at Primary School when you get to bring in a toy/ game. Only its multi-billion dollar companies instead of spotty kids and it’s the latest in mind boggling gaming technology and not your brother’s Gameboy with the battery cover missing. The best bit we do actually know is that it has VIDEO OUT… finally. So you can hook your 33% lighter machine, 19% slimmer machine (20% for us as ours is gathering dust) up to your TV’s S-Video and dem-way-dere!!!

So are you gonna upgrade?

Quick Review: UK Unplugged

The hustle and bustle, eclectic food diversity and assorted smells of culture-rich Brick Lane that preluded UK Unplugged seemed to heighten the expectation. Outside the venue lingered the usual suspects, guestlist craving "celebs", the “Bro, do you like hip hop?” army and a shallow pocket dry lipped guy – on the phone to his pals declaring... "Bruv, its £10 to get in you know!!!" Once padded down, found on the list and side-stepping another opportunity to buy mixtapes the dance was finally reached.

The humidity hit me on the face harder than John Prescott’s finest uppercut and maximum capacity was far from. My suspicious mind had me thinking the staff at 93 Feet East were pumping in hot air from Basra to force people to frog march to the bar but apparently three million degrees centigrade was standard temperature.

The stage was artist free as the DJ sifted Movement-biased grime tracks to the waiting few, in amongst them stood Keisha White, Sway, Marcie and Hyper, Lady Ny, No Lay, Stanza, Little D and many more. BBC 1Xtra DJ’s Ace & Invisible and Twin B – the hosts for the evening – soon took to the stage. After introducing themselves and the band UKSP, they informed why we were all there… “To celebrate UK talent, unplugged.”

Unplugged? I noticed the mics, guitars, Apple Powerbook AND the keyboard had leads coming from them, unless those wires had candy floss at the end instead of plugs Alessandro Volta, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Edison would have been turning in their graves from the lies. However, UK it was. And Scorcher made his way from backstage.

Scorch was on-point, spitting fire from the off. The first track of his solid set was Sandpit. UKSP made his Leader of the New School intro sound like it could break the rictor scale at Wembley stadium as the live adaptation impressed with every strum. The lyrics seemed to match the rock-esque drum lead rendition and it was the perfect way to kick off the night. Sincere found his way onto the stage and the growing crowd were treated to a D Double E-less version of Reppin London. Scorcher thanked his cousin for passing through and continued. Then the best part came, “I’m not gonna cry, I’m not gonna cry,” the East Londoner confessed as he spoke of how the next track was for his little sister. We were slowly introduced to the intense Keep On Moving. Penning the track whilst on short holiday courtesy of Her Majesty the Queen he emotionally spat the thought provoking lyrics, very big. After the set, Ace then introduced who was next up with, “Many artists actually learned from his mixtape” and the cheer let us know who was up next, Wretch 32.

A camouflage-clad Wretch seemed to be inside an alcohol-lined panic room, only on stage, but his performance was soaked up by the now full 93 Feet East. Dressed in Dessert Storm fatigues – later to unveil a “Rep Your Hood” King Apparel tee – he let loose hits from Learn From My Mixtape. Starting with Can’t Say Sorry the office favourite exceeded expectations in between swings from his nearby bottle of Champagne. The reaction increased with each track and by the time he unleashed Who Am I everyone was hooked (especially No Lay, who seemed to be the biggest his fan, spouting every word). Joined by his sister on other hits including Punctuation (which also smashed it) there was equal amount of love for Teacher’s Training Day too. Big big set, just don’t play with his p’s!!!

Bashy – sporting red Skrilla Gorilla hoodie – had his time to shine after the UKSP filled intermission. Tales from the Chupa Chups mixtape were performed and the live editions of Where I’m From and Pryin’ were massive only to be surpassed by his version of The Streets’ Blinded by the Lights titled My Nightmare. A good end to the night saw Bashy hand out mixtapes and Wretch join him for another “unplugged” riddim. Very good.

The only let down to the TROUBLE FREE night was the Ghetto no show, apparently he didn’t get his music to the band in time. Shame as that would have added another 2.5 marks to the review. (Giving it a 6 out of 5)

3.5

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Crackheads Gone Wild!!!

One of my favourite pastimes is documenting the life and times of Crackheads. It seems a documentary maker in America (where else?) has taken it a step further and created a Girls Gone Wild/ Bum Fights style DVD in tribute to Le Crackfaced Ones. Is that taking the piss or is that pure genius? You decided. My thoughts are hovering over at the genius side, but I do feel bad for the Das Crackfiend – they’re people too, well they used to be before they hit the pipe, picked up the loaded joint and/ or sold everything they owned for a taste of Crack pie.

Here’s The Fox News Report

Here’s The Official Trailer

Deep or what? I don’t know about you but if that toothless woman (appears around half way through) was heading my way I’d run a mile… fast. What kind of idiot is going to hang around whilst she gives them a happy finish and pay her for the privilege. She might leave a nasher in your sh*t!!! Not on it!!!

I can’t believe someone has made so much money from this.

Here's an MSNBC Report - with the wrong guy who made it!!!

And finally, here's the maker, he seems proud of his creation

After watching these clips, this shock doc looks like something I need to see. If you watched the trailer you’ll see it looks RAW and on the last Special Report they are saying it’s America’s Worst Drug Abuse Film In 10 Years. Who knows what the drug of choice will be ten yeas from now? I tell you this, I bet it will taste sweeter than strawberries and leave you unconscious for a week after ONE hit.

Maybe the issues do need to be highlighted, if you can make a buck off the back who are we to judge?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Who Knows About: The WORST GRIME VIDEO EVER?!?!

Ok, the beat is beyond bad, the lyrics are terrible and the video? The video is abysmal. Shifty Boy I know you wanted to get your “music” out there and YouTube seemed like your quickest option BUT YOU NEED TO TAKE THE LENS CAP OFF BEFORE YOU START TO RECORDING BRO.

Sack the director, set fire to the lighting guy and definitely reschedule a re-shoot. As is, this will neeeever make it onto Channel Poo – actually that last statement is debatable given the 44DD standard reduction that channel has been through over the last couple of months.

Despite my best efforts to ridicule Shifty Boy he has entertained me with the line, “You don’t wanna diss this cos I’ve been spitting the tightest sh*t since Christmas” and the last 22 seconds of nonsense.

You have definitely put SN3 on the map!!!

Yo dude, next time you make a vid… follow these simple instructions.

1. Have a good tune that actually deserves a video
2. If you feel you have a track, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take off the lens cap and remove all finger-based obstructions
3. Listen back to your “music”, hang up the mic and delete your YouTube account

Maxwell D is Back (But Why?)

Apparently Max is back… again, with You’re Not Serious Vol.1 or UR Not Serious Vol.1 - one or the other. He passed through UK Record Shop to tell the world (or the 13 people that have viewed the YouTube clip at time of going to press) that his new mixtape is out…

I haven’t heard it nor am I going to but I can tell you without even viewing the tracklist that it contains 25 tracks. 20 of them are bait diluted hip hop tracks, four of them are of the grime variety but sound like deadout Serious remixes. There is ONE good track on their though but you’ll have to tell me what that is when your friend’s girl buys it.

The best part of footage is trying to work out if Maxwell is wearing UK Record Shop apparel? If so WHY?

The second best bit about the above broadcast is seeing how long it takes to figure out what video the guys are watching on the widescreen TV? [Rolf Harris] Can you tell what it is yet? [/Rolf Harris]

PS – If you didn’t get a copy of Misunderstood you’re not missing much.

Quick Review: Justin Timberlake’s Last Night of the Love Tour

I didn't actually think I'd enjoy it... but it was very good. Dropped a few hits from both his solo LP's. Losing My Way, My Love, What Goes Around... and the guy in front of us FALLING ASLEEP were the highlights... Hold tight Mr Hudson behind us - not really but it was a dead ringer.

Check my Flickr for more imAGEs...

Sunday, July 08, 2007

I HATE ORANGE

I've been with these chumps for a while now and after I freed myself from the phone contract some years ago, I'm still trying to rid myself and my PC of their Broadband demons!!! If anyone has any problems with their idiotic ways feel free to have a moan at a website dedicated to Orange issues http://www.orangeprobelms.co.uk - no wonder they were voted WORST BROADBAND provider. Down with Orange, their arrogant, incompetent staff and their call centres that are based on the west coast of hell. When I'm set free, I'll let you know.

Xbox 360 ELITE!!!

I might have a 360 but when it comes to black gadgets, they are a must. This is the shit too. Full HDMI output, 120gb HD, other shit... wow. The question is, will it be worth trading in my current 360 JUST to get the same thing in black (basically)? Only time will tell!!!

Chris Rock Swears At Wembley Live Earth

I watched a bit of Live Earth yesterday – in between falling asleep – and Chris Rock was the best part for me. Jokes jokes jokes. Watch how he says MOTHER FUCKERS LIVE on the BBC and they frantically cut back to the studio where an unsuspecting Jonathan Woss has to recover. Al Gore, Live Earth organisers, BBC studio what were you expecting?