Digital Kicks 001

For your listening pleasure, I have completed my first Podcast and it is called Digital Kicks 001. You can find it on podomatic.com and do one of the following things with it:

1. Click on the green play button to listen
2. Click on the send to a friend link and email the Podcast URL
3. Click on the download link to download it to your local device (when I tried this it automatically linked to Quick Time)
4. Click on the permalink link to create a permanent link to the Podcast URL
5. Add a comment

The mix is approximately 55 minutes long, 75mb in size and in standard mp3 format with a bitrate of 192kbps. I recorded it on Monday evening during a flight from Dublin to Madrid using Traktor DJ software. After saving the mix file, I converted it to WAV format and then converted the WAV file to mp3 format. For this reason, I was unable to insert markers between the individual tracks. When you are loading or listening to the mix it will just appear as one single 55 minute file.

The tracklisting is (please note the time indicated beside the name denotes how far into the mix each particular song begins):

01. Walk Away (Acoustic Version) - Franz Ferdinand / 0:00
02. Thinking Of You - Paul Weller / 3:37
03. (I Can) Deal With That - Dee Edwards / 7:25
04. Will You Love My Child - Anna Rayes / 10:42
05. Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White / 13:19
06. I'll Be Late For That - Kanye West / 16:55
07. Chuchottement Del La Plage - Kemiri / 20:45
08. Jungle Light (Urban Groove Mix) - Ohm G & Bruno / 26:12
09. Changes - Kings Of Tomorrow / 30:52
10. Esa Magia - Deep & Wide / 34:41
11. This Modern Love (Dave P's Making Time Remix) / 40:56
12. Number 1 - Goldfrapp / 45:37
13. Take The Skinheads Bowling - Camper Van Beethoven / 48:55
14. Razorblade - The Strokes / 51:20

Enjoy!

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I’m miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I’m miserable now

In my life
Why do I give valuable time
To people who don’t care if I live or die?

Two lovers entwined pass me by
And heaven knows I’m miserable now
I was looking for a job, and then I found a job
And heaven knows I’m miserable now

In my life
Oh, why do I give valuable time
To people who don’t care if I live or die?

What she asked of me at the end of the day
Caligula would have blushed
Oh, you’ve been in the house too long she said
And I (naturally) fled

In my life
Why do I smile
At people who I’d much rather kick in the eye?

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour
But heaven knows I’m miserable now

Oh, you’ve been in the house too long she said
And I (naturally) fled

In my life
Oh, why do I give valuable time...

Worker Dead At Desk For Five Days

Published: March 8, 2006

NEW YORK, March 6 - Bosses of a publishing firm are trying to work out why no one noticed that one of their employees had been sitting dead at his desk for five days before anyone asked if he was feeling okay. George Turklebaum, 51, who had been employed as a proof-reader at a New York firm for 30 years, had a heart attack in the open-plan office he shared with 23 other workers.

He quietly passed away on Monday, but nobody noticed until Saturday morning when an office cleaner asked why he was working during the weekend.

His boss, Elliot Wachiaski, said: "George was always the first guy in each morning and the last to leave at night, so no one found it unusual that he was in the same position all that time and didn't say anything. He was always absorbed in his work and kept to himself."

A post mortem examination revealed that he had been dead for five days after suffering a coronary. George was proofreading manuscripts of medical textbooks when he died.

Now I know why I should worry so much about the fact that no one speaks to me in the Accenture office...

Algunos Divertidos

¿Dónde está la abuela?

Cuando mi abuela tenía 60 años, el médico le recomendó que anduviera 5 kilómetros diarios. Ahora tiene 90 y no sabemos dónde está.

El alcohol distorsiona la visión

Un Guardia Civil somete a un conductor a una prueba de alcoholemia. Después de soplar, le enseña el alcoholímetro que marca 3,45:
- "Mire, ¿no le da vergüenza?"
A lo que el conductor, totalmente ebrio, contesta:
- "¡Las cuatro menos cuarto! ¡mi mujer me mata!"

Love Hurts

Love hurts, love scars, love wounds
And mars, any heart
Not tough or strong enough
To take a lot of pain, take a lot of pain
Love is like a cloud
Holds a lot of rain
Love Hurts...
Ooh, ooh love hurts

I'm young, I know, but even so
I know a thing or two
And I learned from youI really learned a lot, really learned a lot
Love is like a flame
It burns you when it's hot
Love hurts...
Ooh, ooh love hurts

Some fools think of happiness
Blissfulness, togetherness
Some fools fool themselves I guess
They're not foolin' me

I know it isn't true, I know it isn't true
Love is just a lie
Made to make you blue
Love hurts...
Ooh, ooh love hurts
Ooh, ooh love hurts

Portable Kicks - 07 March 2006

I am constantly begging for, borrowing, stealing, buying, copying, digging for, discovering & stumbling across as many tunes as I can. This usually equates to about 120-180 new songs on my laptop every month. The following are some of the tunes that I am listening to this week on my iPod:

(I Can) Deal With That - Dee Edwards

I got this tune from a compilation called The Kings Of Funk that was compiled by RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan and a Scottish DJ named Keb Darge. This track is on the second disc and was chosen by Darge.

He is an old staple of the Northern Soul scene in the UK and a few years ago decided to get to work on a deep funk renaissance. Annoyed with the oversized afros & polyester suits that crept into the scene in the late 70s, he has introduced a whole new generation to the good stuff: the deep funk & soul of the late 60s & early 70s.

This tune is a fantastic laid back groove complete with lots of crackles and distortion. It was one that I played at my last few Bar Cock gigs after coming across it.

Another Day - Kings Of Tomorrow

A brilliant laid back soulful house tune taken from the album Trouble by Kings Of Tomorrow (AKA Sandy Rivera). This one suits the living room much better than the dance floor.

Esa Magia - Deep & Wide

Another chilled out house tune from the resident Cafe del Mar DJ Bruno & his mates under the name of Deep & Wide. I finally found an unmixed version of this tune on an album called Puzzle that Bruno released last year containing some of his solo stuff as well as tunes from the various projects he has been part of during the last couple of years.

The first time I heard this song was in 2001 after visiting Ibiza. I bought a mix CD by Bruno called Chill House Vol. 2 and it blew me away. This song & the rest of that album are what sparked my interest in DJing and helped me discover deep house music.

It's another tune for the living room...

Forever My Friend - Ray LaMontagne

A lovely little slice of Americana from the Acoustic 05 compilation. I know nothing about him other than this song is from his first album called Trouble.

The review of the album says that he sounds like Van Morrison, Neil Young, Hank Williams Jr & Ryan Adams all rolled into one. He also (according to some) makes James Blunt sound like a pub singer.

Gold Digger - Kanye West

A great tune from the preppiest dude in hip hop. I snatched it from my mate Ken and after some initial uncertainty I fell in love with it when we heard it at 4:00am in a bar on Leeson St.!

My Favourite Dress - The Wedding Present

This is probably my favourite song at the moment and I must give Paulo a great big thanks for it! I have been reading John Peel's biography and he was fanatical about these guys. So is Paulo and he was kind enough to let me copy some of their CDs 2 weeks ago.

It is taken from their debut album George Best and for me it is one of the standout tracks. On first listen, I thought that a lot of the album sounded the same but I have been sticking with it and the frantic, jangly, slightly-out-of-tune guitars are really starting to grow on me!

A great mid-80s English indie tune about lost love and seeing "a stranger's hand on my favourite dress".

Number 1 - Goldfrapp

This song is from the album Supernature and is quite a change of direction from their earlier chilled out stuff. It sounds like it is directly from 1979 and has keyboards that must surely make Gary Numan proud. One of the best new "new wave" tunes out there.

Polk Salad Annie - Tony Joe White

I came across this tune on a free compilation CD in Uncut magazine dedicated to John Peel. This dude is from Texas and all of his music is referred to as southern swamp rock. Pure qualiteeeee.

Razorblade - The Strokes

A tune from the new album First Impressions Of Earth. I find some of the album quite disappointing but this song really rocks. Even if you aren't a big Strokes fan, you should give it a listen because the chorus is sung exactly to the tune of "Mandy" by Barry Manilow (or as Homer once sang it "Andy").

Thinking Of You - Paul Weller

Another track from the Acoustic 05 compilation. The modfather does a stripped down, acoustic version of the Sister Sledge disco classic. Absolute magic...

The Greatest American Actor?

With the Oscars only 3 days away and everyone talking about Heath Ledger, Joaquin Phoenix & Philip Seymour Hoffman I propose that perhaps the most overlooked, under rated American actor of all time is... Troy McClure. After all he has been in everything from movies, TV series & musicals to infomercials & self-help videos. His acting credits are long and far-reaching but here are some of his very best moments from a stellar career:

Movies:
Here Comes The Coast Guard
Gladys The Groovy Mule
Dial M For Murderousness
Leper In The Backfield
Suddenly Last Supper
Cut It Out - The Wacky Adventures Of Jack The Ripper
Dracula's Disco Studio Fifty Gore
Driving Mr. T
Calling All Lumberjacks
The Unbearable Moistness Of Sweating

TV Series:
Five Fabulous Weeks Of The Chevy Chase Show
Troy McClure's Aloha From Louie's House Of Shaved Ice

Musicals:
Stop The Planet Of The Apes: I Want To Get Off!
Muttonchops (A one man musical tribute to the great thinkers of the 19th century)

Educational Films:
The World Without Zinc
Here Comes The Metric System
Pepsi Presents Fractions - Two Minus Three Equals Negative Fun
Firecrackers: The Silent Killer
Locker Room Towel Fight: The Blinding Of Larry Driscoll

DIY Videos:
Mothballing Your Battleship
Dig Your Own Grave And Save
The Half-Assed Guide To Foundation Repair

Telethons:
Out With Gout '88

Infomercials:
Impulse Buying Network (IBN)
Shemp Howard: Today We Mourn A Stooge
Welcome To The Knowledgeum
Boy, Oh Cheboygan!
Much Ado About Muffins

Self-Help Videos:
Get Confident Stupid!
Smoke Yourself Thin

He may never win an Oscar but he did come back from the gutter once and he brought someone with him! We will always remember him from movies, musicals, educational films and infomercials such as...