The Brotherhood - "Nothing in Particular"

The Brotherhood were a London hip-hop band that started as a collective of rappers, graffiti artists, dancers and DJ's. Known as the Brotherhood VIP when they got together in the 80's and by 1990 they became The Brotherhood. They released EP's, 12" singles etc. until they peaked in 1996 with the 'Elementalz' album. It was their magnum opus and without a doubt, one of my all-time favourite hip-hop albums. I still go back to it regularly now and have playlisted all the tracks on Bitter FM. It was from the 'House of Pain' and 'Cypress Hill' era and that can be heard. The album contains some interesting samples, which include Iron Butterfly, Soft Machine and Black Moon. "Nothing In Particular" features a sample from Gravediggaz.
Elementalz was possibly when British hip-hop came of age.

Don Cavalli - "Me and My Baby"

French artist Don Cavalli is hard to pigeon hole, musically. There is definitely some Rockabilly from his past and a mixture of blues, RnB, Soul, psychedelic rock and the old hip crooner is only a cardigan away. That takes me to the one word that could define all his music, a kind of constant theme - and that is vintage. There is an old-time sound throughout his 2013 album 'Temperamental' in style and production. "Me and My Baby" is a hypnotic slice of good old RnB that is as much crooner as it is soulful.

Sex On Toast - "Oh Loretta!"

I have to thank good old public radio for this little discovery. RNZ National were talking to the organiser of the Coastella Festival, where Sex on Toast will be performing. He was raving on about this 10 piece band from across the ditch. Now I'm asking myself, how the hell have I not heard of this Australian band before today?
"Oh Loretta!" sounds like a Flight of the Conchords song at first..... but instead of a folk duo we get a full on 80's funk soul band and with five times as much fun as well.
It would be worth a trip down to the Kapiti Coast for this song alone.

Bernie Griffen and the Grifters - "Put Your Hand In Mine"

Here is a little taster ahead of the Bernie Griffen concert at the Taupo Museum on Friday the 18th of March. A classic example of the dark swampy country/folk/blues sound of Bernie and his band. Pure class!

OK Go - "Upside Down & Inside Out"

This is here for a very obvious reason.... THE VIDEO. The band that made treadmill's seem fun, when clearly they are not, deserve a little bit of our time. Especially when they tell us that this one was filmed in zero gravity. Just the idea of zero gravity would be enough to make an interesting video. But no - the treadmill video set the bar quite high for them.

The Breeders - "Drivin' on 9"

"Driven' on 9" is another song from the Breeders' great second album 'Last Splash'. While they released it first, it wasn't an original. The song was by 'Ed's Redeeming Qualities' - a Boston band who formed in the late 80's. Ed's Redeeming Qualities featured Dom Leone, Carrie Bradley, Dan Leone (Dom's cousin) and Neno Perrotta. Unfortunately Dom died of cancer in 1989 - but they continued, on and off, until about 1996. Kim Deal from the Pixies became a fan and a friend. She enlisted Carrie Bradley to play violin for her side project band The Breeders. So with that information, it's not a real surprise that they eventually recorded one of their songs. And what a song to choose... one that became a crowd favourite for them. Ed's Redeeming Qualities released the song a couple of years after on the live album 'Big Grapefruit Clean-up Job'. The violin by Carrie Bradley on both versions is outstanding. Thanks must go to Kim Deal for bringing Ed's Redeeming Qualities to our attention.



Ed's Redeeming Qualities

Primal Scream and Sky Ferreira - "Where The Light Gets In"

If you are a fan of Primal Scream then you probably already own their 'must own' Srceamadelica album - if not, here's a hint.... scan back a bit to the 'must own' part. It really is a great album. I even make a Screamadelica pizza with lots of red and yellow capsicum and cheese with blue food colouring. I have to admit that there hasn't yet been a pizza come out of the oven that looks anything like the album cover - but it will happen.

Primal Scream have had some good and bad moments since that classic album - but I'm really looking forward to their new album, based on this song alone. "Where The Light Gets In" is typical Primal Scream but Sky Ferreira's contribution is sensational.

Sky Ferreira and Bobby Gillespie might be a generation apart - but as a duo they seem to make each other a little bit cooler. In fact, let's say a fucking lot cooler!