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Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Loud
I didn't realise just how LOUD I speak until I listened back to Saturday's show. I only wish I'd recorded one sooner. I did attempt to actually, the week before, but as I tried to listen to it the computer crashed and the recording was lost. So this time around I recorded the show the old fashioned way on to compact cassette and transferred that to the computer.
It was during the transfer that I heard just how loud my voice is compared to the music I'm playing. I only hope it doesn't spoil your enjoyment of the music too much. At least I know now and have already turned down the gain on the mic pre, so hopefully next week's show will sound a bit better.
Anyway, the reason that I recorded the show in the first place was so that I could upload it here as a podcast for those of you who might have missed it or want to listen to it again. Unfortunately, because of the old school recording method, there are a few gaps here and there; i.e. when the tape flipped to the other side and when I forgot to take it off pause after the ad break, but I'm sure you'll get the gist of it.
Next week I'll try recording the show direct to the computer again but this time I'll record to tape too as a back up. Hopefully, the computer won't crash this time and I can present the pod casts without the flaky edits to cover (erase) the gaps caused by the tape leader, we shall see.
For convenience sake, I've split the file into three; 1st hour - Soul, 2nd hour - Reggae and 3rd hour - Hip Hop. So please have a listen and, if you enjoy them, feel free to spread the word.
Track list:
Saturday 20/02/10 Pt. 1 - Soul
Since I Fell For You - The Good Girls
Irresistible Love - Gary 'GT' Taylor
Find A Way - Dwele
Green Eyes - Obenewa
Jump Up In The Air And Stay There - Erykah Badu
Window Seat - Erykah Badu
The Cell - Erykah Badu
Whatcha Gonna Do With My Lovin - Inner City
Dreams - Zshatwa
It Kills Me - Melanie Fiona
Inner City Blues - Marvin Gaye
Saturday 20/02/10 Pt. 2 - Reggae
Free Buju - Sizzla
Haitians - Capleton
Dem Gone - Chuckleberry
Nuh Try - Leontre
2010 - Jah Cure
Coming Right Back - Pressure
Be Careful - Professor
Nobody Knows - Tarrus Riley
Let Peace Reign - Tarrus Riley
Ready To Go - Courtney John
Love Me - Murray Man
Full Control - Sugar Minott
Sweet Slumber - Leontre & Duane Stephenson
Saturday 20/02/10 Pt. 3 - Hip Hop
Green Power - Slept On Fam
Blown - Ashy L Bowz
Down To My Last - Ashy L Bowz
Decisions - Ashy L Bowz
Get A Grip - Fallacy
Whoz Afraid - Fredi Kruga
Say Something - Wretch 32
You're Strong - Mr Drastick
Emotions - Ty
She's Gone feat. Phonte - Tanya Morgan
Hot Off Da Press - Floriginul
The Search - Drake & Saukrates
Hot Like Summer feat. Andreena Mill - Saukrates
The Ghetto - JoellOrtiz & Novel
Emergency Broadcast - Drag On
One Love, Spy!
Monday, 1 February 2010
Random Access Memory
However, despite all that Westwood did mention me to Gordon Mac and even gave me a contact number for him (long since lost and probably way out of date now anyway). Gordon didn’t take me on and I felt gutted, but Westwood made me aware of another station that he listened to who were doing good things at the time and encouraged me to get in touch with them instead.
That station was Faze 1, a relatively young station with equally relatively young DJ's that was just beginning to make it's mark, especially in South and East London and they had a different way of taking on new presenters. Unlike the 'send us your demo tape and if we can be bothered and/or you know someone here already and/or your face fits' school of employment (not that you’d get paid, but you know what I mean) that most 'pirate' stations used, at Faze 1 you were expected to do a live audition in the club that was associated with the station.
So I turned up at Club Mendoza one Friday evening with a bag full of tunes and nerves in equal measure and, once they accepted that I was supposed to be there that night and let me in, I was almost immediately slung into the DJ booth. Now remember, this is Friday night in Brixton and the club is in full operation. I was given the mic and told to present a show just as if I was on the radio. Talk about a baptism of fire.
If you know me, you'll know that my memory isn't my strongest asset and never has been (as far as I recall) but I do remember that the first record I played and, more pertinently for me, announced was James Brown's 'Get On The Good Foot'. I said something about it being the original Hip Hop record and followed it up with a couple of tracks that were current at the time. Of course, I can't remember what the tunes were now (the clue's in the beginning of this paragraph) but I do remember the crowd were rocking away and I was ejected from the booth with even more vigour than when I was manhandled into it!
One Love, Spy!
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Dilemma
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If you heard my show a couple of weeks ago, you will have spotted my mistake when playing 'Meet Me At The Top' by Serius Jones. Initially, I accredited the track to Snoop Dogg (although I corrected my error swiftly) not because they sound similar either vocally or musically but because I had Snoop on the brain.
Let me explain. For the last five or six weeks I've had a couple of new Snoop tracks (one of which came with a 'clean' version) that I was going to play on my show. However, when it comes to it, I've always baulked in favour of tracks from lesser known (or at least less commercially successful) artists.
The dilemma is this; I want to promote music that most (if not all) mainstream media ignores or, worse still, deliberately stifles. Not just to be different, but because I genuinely feel that the music deserves to be heard by a wider public. Thanks to the name he's established for himself, Snoop (and others like him) has already got a large fan base and doesn't lack promotion.
However, whilst many people will happily listen to new, independent music all day, every day, probably the majority of people like to listen to what and/or who they already know. So the decision I have to make is do I accept that I'll only ever have a small core of regular listeners who are down with supporting new and emerging talent, or do I throw in a significant amount of established artists' works in an attempt to expose the independent stuff to a potentially wider audience?
Furthermore, just because Snoop et al get played within the mainstream media doesn't mean that he doesn't deserve my support too, does it?
Although three hours sounds like a long time it goes by in a flash, especially when you consider that at least 10% of that time is taken up with advertising, and remember that the remit for my existing show is to play music from a mixture of different genres. So trying to fit in Hip Hop from independent artists and established ones is a difficult task.
I'd be interested in hearing your opinions on this one, after all the show is for you.
One Love, Spy!
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Of mice and men...
You ever feel like you're being pulled in all directions and end up going nowhere?
I've got things piling up in the studio, my work plus tracks for Brando and Pseudo. I'm spending time familiarising myself with new music and re-familiarising myself with old(er) music for my radio show. Most of the new music from independent artists nowadays is in the form of digital download only, so I have to convert mp3s to wavs and burn them onto a CD before I can play them in the show too. And if that wasn't time consuming enough, I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to free my house of mice!
Now don't get me wrong, I don't have to change my name to Willard quite yet. We're not overrun with the little guys, but because they're so small and fast it's been difficult trying to catch them. Meanwhile, my wife being the girly-girl that she is, was getting more and more frustrated and upset with the whole situation.
It didn't help that our cat actually brought a live mouse into the house with him one evening. Bud (the cat) found it highly amusing to let the poor bugger go just so that he could chase and re-catch it. Eventually I was able to grab the mouse from Bud and release it in our garden (actually next door's garden, but shush don't tell them) but not before Mrs Spy spotted the two of them (cat and mouse) and almost had a heart attack.
Naturally, Mrs Spy figured that all the mice in the house were brought in by the cat, which put him in the dog house. Probably just as well that we don't have a dog because I'm pretty sure that it would be me that would be displaced by the dog for bringing the cat to the house in the first place. Let's just say that I wasn't Mrs Spy's favourite person that night.
Anyway, we started putting down these so-called humane traps. Basically, they are small plastic boxes with a little ridge protruding from the middle of the bottom of the trap. The idea is that one baits the trap with cheese, chocolate, peanut butter or whatever and puts it down on a flat surface so that the baited end of the trap is touching the surface while the end with the door is up off the surface due to the little ridge (kind of like a seesaw). Once the mouse crawls in to eat the bait, its weight shifts the trap closing the door behind it.
Of course, theory and practise are often at odds and this is one of those situations where they totally missed each other. You guessed it, when we checked the traps, neither bait nor mouse were anywhere to be seen. By this time I was developing a grudging respect for the little creatures (or at least their ingenuity). So it was with heavy heart that I finally succumbed to Mrs Spy's wishes and put down some sticky traps.
The sticky traps are much more effective at their intended purpose, so I spent the last couple of days removing dead mice from the house instead of live ones. This saddened me greatly. After all, the poor little blighters were disturbed from their underground dwellings by recent local roadworks and, just as we would, sought warmth and shelter elsewhere. They're not trying to bother us or take over the yard, just stay safe and warm in this increasingly cold winter.
Now, I'm no member of any animal rights group or anything like that, but I admit that it irks me to see the arrogance of us humans sometimes and the way we've turned our backs on (or noses up at) the natural world as if we're not a part of it. It's that same arrogance that's fucking up the world for our future generations.
So, personally, I'm going to spend less time trying to kill 'pests' and more time doing what I'm supposed to be doing in the studio.
One Love, Spy!
Sunday, 4 October 2009
It's the same old show...
It's been a while, something like 15 years in fact, since I was last on the radio and, to be honest, I didn't think I'd ever get back on (or even try to). However, that's exactly what's happened (not the 'trying' part). I was approached by a new and, this time, legal internet radio station to become a presenter and, for reasons that I've never quite fathomed, I agreed.
This happened a few months back and I kind of put it to the back of my mind since then until a couple of weeks ago when I was invited to attend the first DJ's meeting for the station. Even then, at the meeting, it still felt a little surreal after all this time. Obviously, I'm still a huge fan of music and, indeed, am even more involved in/with it than ever. But I still didn't foresee the day when I would be back behind the decks spinning tunes and chatting bullshit.
Well that day is here. Starting this Saturday, 10th October 2009 between the hours of 9-12 pm (GMT) I will officially and, for the first time, legally be 'on air' at Jam1Online.
As with most things in life, there are pros and cons with this situation; on the positive side, despite this being a legal station it is also independent so I don't have to follow a playlist, another advantage to being legal is not having to worry about being cut off mid-show or, worse still, my records being seized. On the other hand, I do have to restrict what I play in terms of lyrical content and context. Being a bit of a potty-mouth myself combined with the fact that a lot of the music I like has been known to turn the air blue, I'm not happy about being (self-)censored in this way.
However, there is a possible silver-lining at the end of that particular nimbus and that is the possibility of an extra show on Friday nights from 12-3 (GMT). You see, the UK Radio Authority, unto which this station is responsible, has set a 'watershed' time of midnight, which means that I could play anything I like (within reason) on this show. So here I am, angling for more 'air-time' and I haven't even started yet. It's just that I abhor censorship (although I acknowledge that some people/groups of people are better off and/or prefer not to be exposed to certain material/knowledge/experiences) and want the chance to play some deep, meaningful Hip Hop (instead of that Club Rap stuff) from artists like Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, etc., and sometimes these cats use expletives when they're expressing themeselves.
I also intend to feature (in both shows, should I get the second one) tracks from unsigned and independent artists that wouldn't normally get played on legal radio, not just to be unique (although I will try not to turn into a clone of DJ wotisname) but because I believe in a lot of the music that never gets listed. Whilst some of it may never manifest as 'hits' I'm sure that a lot of it will be welcomed by a wider audience once they've had a chance to listen to it.
Anyway, if you're reading this blog I'd really appreciate it if (provided you're not due to be doing something else) you'd open up the Jam1Online page - you don't have to join, sign up or log in - in your browser on Saturday night (or evening, or morning, depending on where you are in the world), listen to the show and leave any feedback, good or bad (remember my stance on censorship, fire away), as comments to this blog (or anywhere you like really). I'm genuinely interested in any response because I want this show to mean something, otherwise it means nothing and I might as well go back into retirement.
Saturday, 19 September 2009
Hip Hop and music
Greetings all,
As you will have noticed, I haven't been too prolific at posting blogs on this page. The thing is, as much as I enjoy the medium of the written word as a form of communication and expression, I'm not really that good at putting my often random thoughts into sentences that are both coherent and interesting (to someone else, I mean). I usually have to be quite passionate about a subject in order for me to take the time and effort to write something on it, even if it seems trivial or inconsequential to others.
One such subject is Hip Hop. Now I won't try to portray myself as a living, breathing, thugged-out G, hustling for my paper or doing all the other things that 'rappers' are supposedly renowned for. For a start, I can't rap for shit, that's why I make instrumentals, duh!
However, I have been involved in Hip Hop in one capacity or another (and usually more than one at a time) since the days of 'Planet Rock'. This makes me old; I'll accept that, but not old school because Hip Hop was around long before that. It's just that as a youngster growing up in suburban
Yet even back then I knew that Hip Hop was never just about the music. Sure, music and rappers are an integral part of it but there's so much more. And I'm not just talking about the writing (a.k.a. graffiti), b boys (a.k.a. breaking, popping, locking, etc.) and stuff. I mean the whole philosophy and common goals that make Hip Hop what it is; a community!
Now within any community there'll be factions and occasional disputes/conflicts and the way in which these opinions are expressed and received are what shapes that community and makes it distinct from the others.
In my experience of Hip Hop, the code is honour born of respect. Respect is earned not by having skills, but by knowing how and when to use them. For example, if you're a fire emcee and someone comes to battle you, you don't use your best rhymes on the weakest opponent, you size 'em up and squash 'em without breaking a sweat - that's what gets you respect.
Many say that the influence of Hip Hop is a negative one. I agree that some 'rap' music will have a detrimental effect on some of its more suggestible listeners. However, the real, overall influence of Hip Hop (i.e. the community) is very positive.
The 'Stop The Violence Movement' was a Hip Hop initiative. How many other communities have dedicated so much time and effort at educating/re-educating Black youth? Hip Hop has given very many young men and women from all over the world a sense of purpose and given them access to knowledge that they might otherwise never had. It embraces so many different cultures, which is reflected in the diversity of sounds and 'genres' that make up Hip Hop music, without bias or prejudice.
Anyway, fuck it! I love Hip Hop and I'm glad to be a part of it.
One Love, Spy!
Sunday, 13 September 2009
Move the crowd
Thursday, 10 September 2009
To begin...
I'm know I'm late with all this blogging lark but I'm a man of few words - especially when they're about me.
Anyway, I'll start by saying I'm here to make friends and promote the fruits of my labours. I have a small home studio that I use to write/record/produce material, mainly for the fun of doing it.
I've hooked up with a few local artistes who provide the talent whilst I provide a less-than-perfect but comfortable facility for them to record in.
If any of you are in/near South London and are interested in displaying your musical talents, check out my website and if you like what you find, give me a call and we can hook up.
That's all for now (told you I was a man of few words).
One Love, Spy!

