UPROCK

B'day treats part 2

2010-11-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

One day to go till our Sixth Birthday Party so here's a look at the main event. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Sit back and watch these two incredible videos, starting with his new single Trumpalump, which has unbelievably all been created with paint, no effects.

Trumpalump

And here’s the HD video for previous single Shapeshift, with vocals and production from Hot Chip’s Joe Goddard. The guy’s a genius and you can see him for free this Saturday at The Swan. Birthday parties don’t come better than that.

Shape Shift

B'day treats part 1

2010-11-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

The countdown is on to Uprock’s 6^th birthday party, this Saturday at The Swan. As a special treat we’re bringing you two amazing live acts, Dels and Ed Sheeran.

We’ll start with Ed Sheeran – if you haven’t seen or heard him before then you seriously have to check out this video – more than 270,000 views, all done live and understandably winning Ed friends in high places.

It doesn't take a genius to see the guy is gonna be huge.

Too street for that

2010-11-02T13:06:00.000-07:00

Nice post about our sixth birthday party over at the IP1 website

The hype starts here...

Heads Up!

2010-10-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Next Saturday (23rd Oct) at The Swan Stay Tuned will be presenting JFB. He won the DMC UK championships in 2007 - So he's a pretty big deal. Entry is free. Here he is reconstructing one of our favorite tracks.

+++GOOD+++

2010-10-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Last week I was down about the whole N.E.R.D, Daft Punk Let down. Things are a better this week, and I've been Helped along by the following:-

Bernard Sumner + Hot Chip + Hot City = I didn't know what love was. I heard this for the the first time earlier on this week. It's pretty old Skool. I also attached the new Ratatat for you to check out too.

Converse + Bernard Sumner = Bernard Sumner talking about the Manchester music scene. I can just imagine the guy from converse saying "Pipe down about the hacienda! We need a shot of you in the shoes!!"

Jeremy Messersmith + Eric Power = Tatooine (Star Wars was good wasn't it. But do we need it in 3D?)

Have a great weekend

Andy

Nuts

2010-10-06T05:53:00.000-07:00

What else is there to say about this?

WAKE UP!

2010-10-03T11:33:00.000-07:00

Another cover?!! DJ Fingerprints sent me the link to this collaboration between John Legend and the Roots. Looks like it could be a good album - Take a look

Aloe Back

2010-10-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

We posted Aloe Blacc's "I need a Dollar" a few months back. Here he is again taking on a MJ classic. It's sad but my favorite part of the video is the vintage (thats two uses of the word vintage this week) Sony microphone.

Two for the weekend

2010-10-01T04:04:00.000-07:00

Woop woop....Friday is here.

UPROCK favourites Tame Impala continue to impress. Their music is vintage but this video is groundbreaking.

And we'll have more details of our 6th birthday celebrations coming soon, but we're very happy to confirm that DELS will be playing.

I really love the original of Eyesdown but DELS' vocals are a welcome addition for this Ninja Tune box set exclusive:

Richard

100th Post!!!!

2010-09-29T14:38:00.000-07:00

Sadly with our 100th post I am going to tell you about something that I found disappointing. It also proves a theory of mine that something cool + something cool, sometimes equals something lame.

Tonight I read a tweet from Pharrell Williams saying that if I followed this link I could see N.E.R.D. perform their new song produced by Daft Punk on Letterman. being a fan of both acts I thought surely this is going to be the best thing thats happened to me all day. Wrong! I still hold out hope for the actual track - Maybe the studio version will have a little more Daft Punk magic on it?!

Here are other times that I have been let down by people that I thought I could trust:-

Adidas + Star Wars. Were any of them any good?

Cartoon Allstars to the Rescue - Who ever came up with this needs to calm down. Incase you don't have 27 minutes to see how many of your favorite cartoon characters have been crow bared into this, expect to see Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Garfield, Michelango (TMNT), Winnie-the-Pooh, Muppet Babies, Smurfs, ALF, Alvin, Simon and Theodore, Huey, Duey and Louie and Slimer from Ghostbusters.

Andy

UPROCK on Saturday

2010-09-27T15:38:00.000-07:00

Chilly Gonzales

2010-09-16T14:32:00.000-07:00

Heard this on the radio the other day. The lyrics confused me - Are these guys serious? But like the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell track that Ric posted a while back I liked it. Interesting video too.

Andy

Flavor In Ya Ear

2010-09-10T12:24:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to put these tracks up after last week's Uprock (it was well busy). I've had a tough week so here they are for the weekend

The Jamie Lidell Tiga Remix is like listening to a 1980's Prince if he owned a laptop. You may have heard the Cee-lo track on the radio - the one I've added is the original version, they can't put this one on before the watershed.

Jamaica used to be Uprock favorites Poney Poney (They made the loudest record i've ever owned).

We played two new Kanye West songs last Saturday. James Severy hated the one featuring Beyonce so much he told me on the night, and again when I bumped into him on the way to work. I have attached the other one to keep him happy.

Andy

One for the weekend - Jai Paul

2010-09-03T12:17:00.000-07:00

It looks like being a pretty nice weekend in Suffolk, so here's a handpicked tune to soundtrack whatever it is you'll be getting up to over the next couple of days.

BTSTU is one of my songs of the year so far and suggests big things for Jai Paul in the months ahead.

And if you want to hear it played in perfect conditions* then come down to Uprock at the Swan this Saturday night.

Steve

* Unless DJ Onion blows the new speakers on Friday

Jai Paul - BTSTU by padarnalat

Michel Gondry x Uprock

2010-08-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

I’ve been a fan of Michel Gondry for a while now, from his incredible videos for Daft Punk, Bjork and the White Stripes through to the dream-like beauty of his movies. When I got married my wife even walked down the aisle to our favourite song from Gondry's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

So on my birthday last year, when my brother told me that he had commissioned Michel Gondry to draw a portrait of me I was pretty excited. The only downside, Ric explained, was that he was busy directing films and stuff so it hadn’t arrived in time for my actual birthday.

Turns out Gondry stayed busy (although he sent nice apologetic update emails) and by the time my birthday this year rolled around the picture still hadn’t arrived.

To make up for it, Ric made me this video of his imaginary trip to California tracking the picture down…

A couple of months later an airmail envelope finally arrives in Suffolk from Beverly Hills, with an amazing portrait immortalising a midriff-baring moment from Uprock's New Years Eve party:

But in a surreal twist, also slipped inside the envelope was a note from Gondry himself, who had somehow found Ric's video message online and taken issue with at least one bit of the content:

So the lesson from this story – always respect the Gondry. And if you can’t be kind, rewind.

As a nod to the great man, here are three of my favourite Michel Gondry videos – enjoy.

Daft Punk - Around the World

Massive Attack - Protection

The White Stripes - The Hardest Button to Button

Steve

Give it up for the Chemical Brothers

2010-08-17T01:25:00.000-07:00

The Chemical Brothers return with a track that sounds like a sequel to Star Guitar, until the drop comes in and makes everyone in earshot stand up and say 'what's that?'

Few artists successfully continue to produce stunning return singles - think It Began In Africa, Salmon Dance and the whole Battle Weapon series, normally released as 12" teasers.

And then there are the videos. The Chemical Brothers have produced some classics, including the aforementioned Star Guitar which came courtesy of Michel Gondry - who we have a very good story about to share with you shortly.

But best of all....still has to be Spike Jonze's Eletrobank, which remains a masterpiece.

Richard

In Dave we trust

2010-08-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

Reading Steve's blog on Janelle Monae's appearance on Letterman reminded me that I had seen a tweet today saying that M.I.A. had had a great performance recently as well.

I wish we had Letterman.

Andy

Monae for old rope?

2010-08-15T12:34:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to the Janelle Monae album a lot over the last couple of weeks and it's providing a good soundtrack to the summer.

She's blended a lot of styles on there, equal parts future and retro soul, to make something fresh.

The influences extend to her visuals too - in the video for new single 'Cold War' she puts a real-time spin on Nothing Compares 2 U...

...while on Letterman she channels the spirit of James Brown for 'Tightrope' (which sounded good played loud at Uprock last week)

Steve

Meat is murder

2010-08-15T12:29:00.000-07:00

In the last post Ric mentioned that he played 'Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell' at Uprock last Saturday.

We then started talking about why Taco Bell has never found its way to the UK. After watching this clip I feel less like we've lost out.

Steve

You can dance if you want to

2010-08-09T15:11:00.001-07:00

UPROCK on Saturday night was good fun. It's always nice to hear/see people react to the music we play - a friend of a friend posted a Facebook status calling it 'immense', we had a drum n bass dj pop his head under our window to say hello, and there was some impressive dancing from a trio of women in the pub.

One of the issues (used in the lightest possible sense considering what real issues there are in the world) we have is on how dancable we should make UPROCK. In the Cock & Pye days we had a dance floor and it was great to gauge that instant connection with what we were playing - but it also meant we could get stuck in floor filler mode.

On Saturday I played TEETH's Stolen Spaces and it reminded me of this quandary.

One of the enthusiastic dancers told me it was too dull and requested something more danceable, like The Jackson 5's I Want You Back.

We all love the Jackson 5, and still play stuff from them, but a big part of our original aim for UPROCK was for eclecticism, the joy of not being confined to one genre and the freedom to play what we want. At the Cock & Pye, once people were dancing it could be difficult to move away from classics.

At The Swan we get the best of both worlds - the laid back atmosphere means groups are often comfortable dancing amongst themselves, but we don't have the pressure of keeping a dedicated dance floor happy all night and so we can jump between genres and tempos to our hearts', and hopefully all of those present, are content.

So we get to play stuff like Wu Lyf:

Which I think sounds amazing but appreciate it can sound harsh or out of place for people wanting a good time on Saturday night.

So if we leave you disappointed, we apologise. We don't do it out of spite or to be pretentious.

And if you stick around, there will always be a song come along soon after which will make you dance.

And finally, we had a rare disagreement in music on Saturday, with Andy calling this track rubbish.

I like it. Comments welcome below or on Facebook.

Richard

Log Log Log!

2010-08-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I got a copy of every episode of Ren and Stimpy from a friend. I first got into the series back in the 90's as it was on after The Fresh Prince of Bell Air. Watching back some of the episodes I could understand why Nikelodeon had such a battle with the writers as this stuff shouldn't be shown to kids.

Eventually the fun had to stop but some of the creators went on to do SpongeBob SquarePants.

Whilst finding clips for this post I came across the picture below. For part of Stussy's 30 year celebration they brought out this Ren and Stimpy Shirt. Although it was only released in June I fear that I may be too late.

Barcode battlers

2010-07-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

If you found us via the QR code, welcome along. If you can make the above, which will be an excellent night of music from 8pm to 1am, come say hi and we'll give you a badge for being special.

If you found us via Facebook, a bookmark or any other way, interacting with the above image could send you on a neverending loop back to this very page (you can also have a badge).

Saikat Biswas Holga D Design

2010-07-21T23:49:00.000-07:00

I think that this is just a concept design, but as I have been using an Analogue Holga for a few years now I found it interesting. Holgas are Chinese plastic cameras, that were given away as cheap prizes at American fair grounds in the 80's. They have been resurrected in recent years by the lomography company. Despite being poorly built they produce images like the one bellow.

The digital concept by Saikat Biswas is a more compact version with the same plastic lens of the original. This is perhaps the obvious way to create a digital version but the interesting twist is this - it doesn't have a view finder at the back. So like the analogue version you can't see what your pictures are like until you develop/download them. This is the most exciting part of using a film camera. It would be nice to try one for a day.

Andy

Latitude Festival 2010: Post two

2010-07-21T23:22:00.000-07:00

The week before the festival Uprocker Steve said that he had booked us a table at the Giant Robot restaurant at Latitude. It was the first time the festival had had a proper restaurant. I thought - great, I'll write a blog on that.

It was great to sit down at a proper table and use a fork and spoon (that's how I eat spaghetti). It was also nice to sit down with friends to discuss what we had all seen so far. It was lucky that we had so much to discuss as we had a long wait. The service was pretty bad, they had sold out of quite a few dishes, and it was only Saturday. The food was good though when it did come. Hopefully they will sort themselves out if they come back next year.

As this was the case I was unable to give Giant Robot my award this year for best festival food. That accolade goes to Pizza to the People. They take your order and freshly bake your Pizza in 5 minutes. The queue was long and people were complaining. As soon as customers got their pizza they quickly realised that they had just purchased the best item of food they will have all weekend, and all was forgiven.

Andy

Latitude Festival 2010: Post one

2010-07-21T15:14:00.000-07:00

Woo! Latitude! Got to love it. See you again next year hopefully.

Lots went on this weekend, plenty of good bands and odd stuff going down. We'll get round to writing up our experiences soon.

First though, the song of the weekend for me proved to come courtesy of a band who weren't playing but still seemed to follow me around.

A couple of times after watching the comedy a mix cd was thrown on, and on both occasions a mellow track with children singing on it kicked things off.

The first time I heard it I noticed a woman singing along. I was struck by a feeling of inadequacy for having never heard this song that was obviously so close to her heart.

I'd soon enough forgotten about it until after Emo Phillips's set, when it came on again. Shazam was called into action but sadly the reception wasn't strong enough to send the track off for identification.

Back at work today and I suddenly remembered the track, checked Shazam and it was still stored, waiting to be sent off.

A few seconds later and it came back as the below.

It's as nice as I remembered it. I read up a bit and found out that Ryan Gosling's in the band.

That's a pity, I thought, I really hate him as an actor. I then looked him up and realised it's not actually Ryan Gosling I dislike, but Ryan Phillippe.

I don't actually recognise Ryan Gosling, but see he was in Flashforward. Poor old Benford.

Richard

BLU's history of the world

2010-07-12T05:23:00.001-07:00

A little while ago we were talking to BLU about coming to Ipswich to paint a big wall for us. It was looking promising, but sadly he was too busy working on his new animation to come to the UK.

Well, the new film is here and it's absolutely mind blowing.

Funny, poignant, incomprehensible...do yourself a favour, find 10 minutes to sit down and immerse yourself in Big Bang, Big Boom.

BIG BANG BIG BOOM - the new wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

New Stuff

2010-06-28T08:48:00.000-07:00

Where The Wild Things Are Kubrick and BearBrick

SwanFest 2010 Badges. 2nd-4th July. Tickets are going Fast

Aloe Blacc - I Need a Dollar. Thanks to Lee from King Street Swap Meet for putting me on to this. His 12inch copy came with a real One Dollar bill.

T-Shirt News "Nigo does it himself"

2010-06-28T08:26:00.000-07:00

DIY craft really is having a comeback.......

I just started to follow Nigo creator of a bathing ape/BAPE on Twitter. I was pleased to see that he is going back to his roots for their 17th Birthday by offering T-Shirt printing classes at some of his shops.

Whilst looking through some of his pictures I saw some cross promotion that the BAPE brand is famous for.

Did anyone actually use this for a wrestling match?

Hello Kitty Meeting Milo! Thats almost as big as when Superman met Muhammad Ali

Stuff for you to do over the next week for free

2010-06-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

The first Saints Summer Street Fair is this Sunday on St Peters St. Expect craft, vintage and food stalls. Look out for Kluck, Jessica Lucking and Mister Millerchip - who will be doing live drawing on the day.

Mix Medium Art Action at the Foundation Art show at Suffolk New College. Opening times are:-

23-25 June (9am-4pm)

26 June (10am-1pm)

28-30 June (9am-4pm)

Finally. Local artist Nick Sinclair has come back to Suffolk with his Country & Eastern photography exhibition, at the University Campus Suffolk water front building. The Exhibition Includes some of the last pictures of Johny Cash and his wife June Carter.

Andrew WK

2010-06-23T13:50:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I heard this song on an advert for T4 on the beach. I remember when it first came out in 2001, I thought it was so stupid it was a sure fire hit. I was wrong.

A friend of mine who had studied music said "this is ridiculous, the whole song is just a chorus". It was nice to hear it again.

Jeffrey Lewis - Mosquito Mass Murderer

2010-06-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

DISCO Sucks

2010-06-02T14:12:00.001-07:00

I was on Holiday last month and whilst taking photos I noticed that our friends on the continent are not afraid of the word Disco. Here it's a bit of a dirty word that conjures up images of afro wigs and flared trouser. Recently I have been listening to some selected Disco that I thought I would share with you.

If you have not listened to decent disco I would say it's worth checking out, especially if you are in to acts like LCD Soundsystem, any indie band that have used a cow bell, or House music (I thought the Duck Sauce track was genius until I heard "I can do it" and realised it was more like a re-edit).

Studio 54 DJ booth

This is in no way a definitive list, but if you have a BBQ coming up in the next few weeks stick them on a play list.

P.S. The Native New Yorker track has a terrible intro but keep with it.

Where does he get those wonderful toys?

2010-06-01T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey look! It's Uprocker Andy and boy does he look happy.

We took a lunchtime trip to see Pixelh8's Childhood Remixed project/exhibition/toy fetish event at the Town Hall Galleries and were impressed enough to write this blog.

On show are a range of circuit bent toys to play with, showing how 99p car boot sale purchases can be turned into musical instruments.

You can have fun watching a friend get into an NES version of Mario before you ruin it by playing around with Pixelh8's added image and sound distortion controls, which meant Andy fell down a hole and got angry.

He's actually really good at Mario.

Best of all though are Pixelh8's centre pieces. Literally speaking, a group of toys are placed in the middle of the room.

A big button is pressed and the drums, operation patient's red nose, xylophone etc play along to a chiptune beat...whilst Raphael and the Battle Cat look on.

We got most carried away, though, with the machine that Andy is pictured playing. It's a computer hooked up to a toy (also pictured), and you can loop each individual element, bell, balls etc and make like you're in Hot Chip.

Words can't do it justice. Certainly not these words anyway.

So...check it out. Pixelh8 will be eating Haribo there most of this week, so go say hello. He's very friendly.

Childhood Remixed

The octopus and the ice cream

2010-05-27T03:39:00.000-07:00

UPROCK at The Swan, Saturday, 5 June 2010. Good.new.music

Still Cool?

2010-05-26T09:38:00.000-07:00

I quite like Mark Ronson. I loved "Ooh Wee" when it came out a few years back. Then the production for Winehouse and his own Versions album were very different at the time. But it all got played and copied to death.

When my good friend James e-mailed me the new song and said it was really good I was skeptical. I listened to it and now I can't get it out of my head. It also guests Ghostface for the first time since Ooh Wee (or was Ghostface on one of the Winehouse tracks?). The track bellow sounds like it may have been taken off the radio but gives you an idea.

Bellow is the video for Circuit Breaker which is also on his new album. I am playing the new Zelda at the moment - This is a Fanboy's dream.

Alert!! Good Busta Rhymes Song!!!

2010-05-25T13:08:00.000-07:00

Out of all the artists that I listen to on a regular basis I would have to say that Busta Rhymes is the most inconsistent. He either releases a great club tune or something terrible, that is usually a duet (Janet Jackson, Linkin Park). On the occations that he is on his game he produces magic. One time Zane Lowe premiered one of his tracks whilst I was driving - I got so pumped I almost crashed my Car.

The other week I was once again listening to the radio when I hear that the new Busta track is about to be played. What would it be? 100% great or a lame turd. I was in the kitchen so was in no danger of crashing, but decided that I should put down the knife I was using. This was a good move as I thought it was a hot track - Stop The Party. production by Swizz Beat.

I also added the track that I almost crashed my car to.

The Bundles and Jeff Lewis play UPROCK

2010-05-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

In a bizarre turn of events, Jeffrey Lewis and The Bundles are playing for us tonight. Ecstatic.

Die'Angelo

2010-04-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

Drum and Bass has always been a genre that I have lacked knowledge in. I used to work in a record shop a long time ago and this guy always came in on fridays to pick up the new 12 inches. Each week I managed to blag my way through our conversation before he left with his new purchases. The purpose of me telling you this is so I don't come over as authority on the track bellow from DJ Die and Interface - I just like it.

I think it's the chorus that gets me the most. It sounds like it could be from a D'Angelo song. With that being the case I hope you don't mind if I slow things down right now by embedding a classic video.

Uprock Blog is 1 year old!!!!

2010-04-22T12:17:00.000-07:00

.... and some people thought this blogging thing was a fad.

Where The Wild Pandas Are*

2010-04-21T08:54:00.000-07:00

We've mentioned our love for both LCD Soundsystem and Spike Jonze in previous posts.

But seriously...if you're making videos and then stumble across this, you'd probably consider giving up.
--
*I googled this title thinking that someone else must have already used it. They had

Life and Times of...

2010-04-20T08:50:00.001-07:00

Zane Lowe gets a bad press sometimes but, to me, it's lazy criticism.

To me, he really understands radio and every now and then he manages to create a perfect moment on air.

I've gone from listening to him every night to being an occassional listener - but tuned in the other day to find him switching from a hectic 15 minutes or so to bringing the mood down with a new track from Sage Francis.

Gilles Peterson's probably the master of this, but Zane's good too.

Anyway, the song is good in itself. But its chronological acount of growing up reminded me of Jeffrey Lewis's more detailed effort in Back When I Was 4, which is well good.

So having a blog to hand, I thought why not post both songs. Job done.

Also, in case you haven't seen Jeffrey's tribute to Rough Trade...

Richard

Sleeping Giant

2010-04-18T03:29:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back I was asked to DJ at the I Make Fun Stuff craft market. I was excited about this for three reasons - It is a great craft market - I enjoy DJing during the daytime - It was upstairs in the town hall.

Just over 5 years ago we were upstairs in the function room at the town hall for Uprocker Rics wedding reception. We were DJing on the same stage. Behind where we were DJing was the picture above. Standing at over 7 foot (est) it was pretty striking. We didn't know who it was of but we decided to use the image for the 3rd Uprock poster.

When I heard that I was going to be back on the stage for the craft market I thought great, I'll get a another picture with my new camera. Unfortunately when I arrived I found that our old friend was semi wrapped behind the stage curtain, where no one could see him.

What a waste. If anyone knows who the picture is of please let us know.

iRant

2010-04-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

This is some of the dumbest s**t I've seen in a long time.

At the time of writing this iPads have not been released in the UK. So I was surprised to see in CEX (computer exchange) that you could sell your iPad for the "best prices paid".

If I had managed to get an iPad during a weekend break to the U.S. I probably wouldn't have got bored of it yet. If I had got bored of it I would probably sell it on ebay for 2 grand to one of the thousands eager people who want one.

Surely this advert is only aimed at the thieves out there.

8 bit takeover

2010-04-11T12:17:00.000-07:00

In honour of Pixelh8's appearance on BBC Suffolk Introducing this week, here's what would happen if pixels actually did hate (New York specifically).

The old school references on the subway adverts made me smile.

ala Kart

2010-04-09T15:27:00.000-07:00

I read today that Mario Kart is almost 20 years old. That's quite a scary thought, but it got me to thinking how great this game is.

In some ways it parallels how life is and should be - When you're down on your luck you should be helped out by an offer of a mushroom boost, and on the flip side when you're on top you should prepare yourself for a red turtle shell up your back side.

It also reminded me of an outing we all had back in 2001 when we went to visit Uprocker Ric in Leeds and went to see a new band called The Strokes. After what was a great gig, Ric's friend said that he was going to a local pub because he had heard that The Strokes were going to be there.

Uprocker Steve and myself said "whatever buddy - they're not going to be there. Let's go home and play Mario Kart on our new Gameboy Advances (that we all had just bought)"

It turned out that Ric's friend did get to have a drink with The Strokes, but we played Mario all night and all the way home on the train. Ric is still a bit sore about the story.

The Strokes opened with this song.

Mayor Haugh-thorne

2010-03-31T14:41:00.000-07:00

Location-based-social-networking might not sound fun but we’ve got into it in a pretty big way.

Uprock has been hard at work on Foursquare, adding places of note in Suffolk and competing to become their mayor.

And it looks like Foursquare is set for bigger and better things – its user base is growing at a crazy rate (22 million check-ins so far), companies like Starbucks have rushed to sign up and offer discounts, and Vodafone is stealing ground as the first UK network to promote it heavily.

As a pointer towards the next stage of its development, check out how search engine bing has added Foursquare data to their maps so that you can easily view check-ins, badges and tips left by other users.

We’re playing our part in this brave new world by adding locations worth finding in Ipswich, like The Swan, which Andy was mayor of until landlord Damian got in on the action.

Ric is clinging on as mayor of WHSmith though, so it’s not all bad news.

Oizo x Flat Eric x Pharrell

2010-03-30T11:36:00.001-07:00

Mr Oizo directed this short film for his furry buddy and Pharrell Williams. I wonder what would happen if he adapted it to a full feature?

T-Shirt News "seduce me seduce me, dress me up in stussy"

2010-03-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

Stussy (a favorite of ours since school) has teamed up with Stones Throw to bring out this J-Dilla T-shirt. Looks pretty fresh and will be at size soon.

And linking back to the previous post - Here is an originally J-Dilla produced Pharcyde track remixed by Hot Chip. It's pretty haunting but I quite like it.

Tales of the unexpected

2010-03-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Songs I can't wait to play at Uprock's Easter Party, part 2 (if 'Eggs' was part 1).

Dope video too.

Eggs!

2010-03-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

Got any plans for Easter Weekend?

Well we're celebrating at The Swan on Saturday night. It's going to be very special.

Lots of good.new.music and Steve will no doubt already have his box packed with his favourite ever record popping out of the top:

We go from 8.30pm to 1am. Admission is free.

"you are correct"

2010-03-22T10:14:00.000-07:00

Obama has been in the news today for doing the right thing. As I was walking in to town the song bellow came on my shuffle. Coincidence?

He can do it faster

2010-03-21T05:48:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday 18th March - The Swan, Ipswich. Gift of Gab of Blackalicious & Quantum. Doing Alphabet Aerobics at Rapsploitation Sessions. With Chrome & Ill Inspired warming up the crowed. Another great night.

P.S. Gift of Gab looks like Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince

Fancy Footwork

2010-03-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I browse youtube watching a load of rubbish and suddenly an evening has disappeared. The other night I remembered to look to see if they had some clips of the 1997 DMC championships that I thought I would never see again. Like most things they were on youtube.

They are quite contrasting. First up is a 15 year old DJ A-Trak of Fools Gold Records, Kanyes tour DJ, some great remixes and brother of the tall one in Chromeo. He won the world Championship with this routine - Youngest ever.

The second clip is from the same year at DMC. When I first watched DJ Nike from Italy I couldn't believe this guy made the final. From his Ali G look (this was 1997) you may think that it's a joke. You need to go to 1:45 to get the full effect and also the irony that Dj Nike is wearing Adidas.

The track below is a little old, but a great remix by A-Track for Sebastian Tellier. I tried to find a DJ Nike track but no luck.

James Murphy, hero

2010-03-11T01:49:00.000-08:00

Saturday's Uprock was awesome.

It was one of those nights where things were as we hoped they would be when we started over five years ago - eclectic music in a pub full of people enjoying themselves, wearing what they want, and adding to the overall atmosphere.

All of which should be a given for a night.

Anyway, I was going to start a regular blog entry about songs which went down well (working title), but then stumbled across LCD Soundsystem's website.

James Murphy and LCD are genuine Uprock heroes. His mix of MIA's Paper Planes and LCD's Watch The Tapes sounded as fresh as ever on Saturday, and it's exciting to hear that a new album is only a month or so away.

James Murphy is a modern day Brian Wilson - a visionary with an amazing talent for bringing the sounds within his head to record.

Seeing LCD live you can't help but feel for his band, as despite being accomplished musicians themselves they're continually given instructions by their leader - who sometimes even takes over playing their instruments.

His determination not to compromise and steer away from his vision is admirable.

Anyway, for the new album he seems to have rented out a mansion and turned it into a studio. Nice videos.

And going back on topic of songs that went down well at Uprock, the Rock mix of Audio Bullys' Only Man sounded great. I think it could be one of the year's biggest tracks.

The Cads are also continuing to impress - new single This Place is Havoc sounded good, and is available to download soon.

We've been playing The XX v Florence and the Machine for a while and still love it - not sure if the Very Best's reworking will stay with us for long, but happy it came along.

But for me, Jimi Hendrix's Bleeding Heart, all 6 minutes of it, was track of the night.

Finally, props to Andy for playing General Levy as the penultimate track. Class.

Richard

"And thats How for Now"

2010-03-07T04:53:00.000-08:00

If any of you have been to Uprock you'll probably agree that we concentrate more on the tunes that we play than the way we play them (Oh well you can't have everything). Anyway some of people stare at the laptop next to us and wonder what we using that for. Some have figured out that we are playing MP3's but not sure how this works with the turntables.

Below is a video tutorial from Serato that makes the software that we, and many other swan DJ's use. As you know we don't use it for the scratch possibilities. It does enable us however to find new MP3's that would not be coming out on to vinyl and play them through the decks. I think there are about 4 or 5 tutorials in total. look for them on YouTube if you want to learn more.

Crafty

2010-03-04T11:30:00.000-08:00

Last Weekend I was in Norwich Arts Centre with my friend Mister Millerchip (check out his blog) we were there for Clutter City craft market. We set up our joint Millerchip and Kluck stall and then checked out what else was on offer. It was one of the best alternative craft markets I've been to (and I've been to a few).

Anyway you may be thinking I'm about to say why don't we have this sort of thing in Ipswich? Well we do. This month I make Fun Stuff is back. The first one at the end of last Novemebr showcased the best of local craft and the next one on the 27th March is looking to be a bigger event. It is well worth a visit.

RAP Attack!!!

2010-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

Happy 3rd Birthday to Rapsploitation Sessions. They celebrated in style last Thursday with Stig of the Dump and Syntax, Jack Flash and Millionaires by Morning (pictured above). Some of the best nights in Ipswich in the last three years have been thanks to these guys.

Make sure you pencil them in for the 18th of March when Gift of Gab of Blackalicious fame comes to perform for them at The Swan. Get your tickets quick.

In other RAP related news Rapsploitation affiliate Jimmy Green has released another mixtape on his BLOG. His Marvyn Gaye mixtape got me to work on many mornings late last year. So I was super excited to hear that he had done a Beastie Boys Mixtape. If you think that you own all the beasties back catalogue so you don't need to have it mixed together your wrong. Its much more than that - go take a look.

Mash Up

2010-02-09T11:25:00.000-08:00

I've never got into the whole online gaming thing. Partly as I don't have the time and maybe it's just too complicated for me. So being a simple kind of guy I was pleased to see that Sega re-released one of my favorite Master System games to download on to my Wii. I used to love playing Alex Kidd and Shinobi on my 8 bit console so when the mashed up Alex Kidd in Shinobi World was released in 1990 I was sold on the title alone.

Speaking of Mash Ups here is one that has had the crowd down at Uprock split. It seems that you get cheers when Biggie starts rapping and boos for the fact that Roots Manuva is not in equal measures. I'll let you decide for yourself.

JUSTICE return!

2010-01-27T04:12:00.001-08:00

2010 is shaping up to be a good year for comebacks. Vampire Weekend...The Strokes....and now Justice.

It's certainly better than some of the mixes they've put their name to recently, and the change in pace is welcome midway through.

Good to have them back - be interesting to see where they go from here.

Three reasons to be cheerful

2010-01-25T04:05:00.000-08:00

Uprocker Steve reckons the Justice track is a fake....who knows?

What I do know is that the above poster by Steve is perhaps our best yet. We're looking at ways to get some of these printed on nice paper and made for sale. Get in touch if you'd like to reserve one.

Anyway....music.

I've been listening to two tracks over and over this week. One old, one new(ish).

First, the new. Summer Camp give hope that the winter won't last forever. They have a mysterious presence, a nice blog of old photos (which somehow doesn't match the authentic, heartfelt nature of Lettie's collection) and a couple of stand out tracks.

Ghost Train is the killer - with touches of Pony Up! and even the Teenagers.

I've been listening to this a lot this week..but not as much as Pinball by Brian Protheroe.

I know little about him, apart from the track made it to the top 30 in the 70s and that he may have been in Superman 2, but this song is amazing. I love everything about it.

Enjoy

Richard

Song of the year (aka footage of when Bob Dylan played UPROCK)

2009-12-21T04:55:00.000-08:00

So good. Repeat plays at the UPROCK Christmas party awaits.

UPROCK Christmas party

2009-12-17T02:47:00.000-08:00

Christmas jumpers at the ready....

The Uprock Christmas party takes place at The Swan, Ipswich, on Tuesday 22 December 2009. Live guests THE CHEEK and THE CADS will be joined by the UPROCK DJs playing good.festive.music

Admission is free. Hope to see you there

A Bad Video of Something Good

2009-12-01T15:33:00.000-08:00

Ian Brown in Ipswich 01/12/09. People seemed to know this one.

Millionaires By Morning Mount Up.

2009-11-28T01:38:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night was a big night in Ipswich. So big I turned up at the Blueroom at McGintys at 7:45 to make sure I got into the 80 capacity venue. I was pleased that I did because not long after that people where being turned away. It was the first gig by Ipswich supergroup Millionaires by Morning - 7 piece live Hip Hop band.

They sounded great and looked like they were having too much fun on stage for a group that only all met together 3 weeks go. The majority of the set was their own material. They did one cover which was a real crowed pleaser. You can view part of it underneath.

Make sure you try and check these guys out..... Turn up early.

The Cheek - Hung Up

2009-11-09T04:46:00.000-08:00

Our good friends The Cheek release their debut single today. It's called Hung Up and sounded very good turned up loud at Uprock on Saturday night. The B side is a cover of La Roux's In For The Kill.

The video for Hung Up is interesting. It's inspired by Andy Warhol and has the aim of being "a video that nobody else had made yet".

The Cheek - Hung Up from The Cheek on Vimeo.

Good work. The launch party is at Cargo in London tonight (Monday, 9 October).

They've also posted a well-worth-listening to mixtape/download on their well-worth-reading blog: http://thecheek.tumblr.com/

If you like music, speak french and have a spare 70 minutes then this is for you.

2009-11-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

But as long as you like music you'll probably be ok

MUSICVISION PHOENIX from Guillaume Delaperriere on Vimeo.

Late X Late = Late Squared

2009-10-31T16:16:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to write this for over a week now. If you are reading this on the morning of the 1st November then there is still time for you to see the Square Route show put together by Lielow and Sketch (For info read a few posts down). Any later than that and you've missed your chance. You may think what's the point of continuing reading? Well at least you can take a look at some of the pictures that were there and secondly you should check out their website. Hopefully the increased traffic will help them realise that they need to continue putting on art shows in Ipswich.

Chris Nunn

Cab Weal

Asboluv

Sam Peet

Mister Millerchip

Monster mash up

2009-10-30T03:44:00.000-07:00

A happy halloween to all Uprockers old and new.

Sit back and enjoy a spooky offering from Essay Like Nephew, as the normally lovely guys get creeped up and perform some of their songs with an added haunted feel.

And check out the acting at the start. Good work.

Spike takes Kanye out, films consequences

2009-10-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Apparently Spike Jonze got the idea for this after seeing Ric at the end of the last Uprock.

Toy Story

2009-10-19T12:58:00.000-07:00

A week ago I went to my friend Ben's for the weekend. Ben works for a famous toy company which means that he always has new toys to play with when I go over. First up is story telling elmo. This guy is much better than tickle me elmo (so 1990's). He comes with his own stool that he sits down on to think about what story he is gonna tell you.

This one is about a giant:

The second toy is now actually sitting on our shelf at home (thanks Ben). It's a George Lucas storm trooper disguise figure. He must have felt he needed a disguise after Jar Jar Binks.

Beasts International

2009-10-12T12:49:00.000-07:00

Last Friday (9th Oct) was the opening of the second Lielow and Sketch exhibition at the Graham and Oldham gallery Ipswich (opposite crown pools). It was a busy night of free drinks, music (from King St. Swap Meet), and animal related art work from mostly local artist but a few from further away.

Lielow and Sketch have been making a name for themselves since they curated their first exhibition (called 3) earlier in the summer and were present at Art on the prom in Felixstowe at the end of August.

The Animal House exhibition is open to see until the 18th Oct (12pm-6pm). If you are in Ipswich at lunch time then I'd advise you to pop in to take a look, and maybe even buy one of the reasonably priced pieces, T-shirts or badges.

Their next exhibition at the gallery is called square route and starts on the 24th Oct. The idea behind square route is for all the artists to create two pieces 50cmx50cm. That's the only rule. We'll put pictures up as soon as we can.

And between now and then they are also collaborating with the guys from Rapsploitaion. but Im not sure if I'm supposed to talk about that so I'm gonna stop writing

ARTrock

2009-10-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

There's little need for us to add anything in way of background for these two videos. What could do them justice?

JR, Women are heroes:

JR - EXTRAIT "WOMEN ARE HEROES", Kibera, Kenya
by JR

And Blu messes around in a courtyard with David Ellis in his follow up to Mutu.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop) from blu on Vimeo.

Amazing.

JR
Blu

Jim'll Fix It

2009-09-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

If you bumped into me at any point in the last month I probably said to you - "have you heard Jimmy's - what if dilla poduced the blueprint" . Now if I didn't see you at any point last month or you don't know who Jimmy is this is what you need to know.

1) Jimmy is Jimmy Green. He's an Ipswich based High School Teacher, DJ, and Beatmaker (I know that he is amazing at atleast 2 of these things - I'm sure the kids at his school think he's cool too).

2) His "what if dilla produced the blueprint" (thats J Dilla)has been getting some serious heat on the blog scene including Kanye West blog (one of the original Blueprint producers) and the Rawkus Blog.

3) He's recently set up his own blog where you can get alot of his stuff. He writes on it alot so there's loads to see here.

I've been meaning to write this blog for a while as I've been listening to it alot. So sorry if this has come a little late.

As it has come late it means that I can also mention his latest Marvin Gaye mixtape which has just been put on his blog yesterday. I will be listening to it on the way to work tomorrow so can't give you a proper review, but to be honest I know that I will love it and i'm looking forward to going to work tomorrow.

We will (robot) rock you

2009-09-24T13:18:00.000-07:00

In two minds whether this is a good thing or not. Looks like they held off on letting them use the pyramid stage though, maybe they're saving it for the sequel.

Uprock Social Club returns

2009-09-04T03:05:00.000-07:00

Following an incredible night with Mumford and Sons earlier in the year, we're pleased to announce that the Uprock Social Club will return on Saturday 3 October.

Our special guests will be the hugely talented and critically acclaimed trio The Invisible.

The band's debut LP has been picked for the 2009 Mercury Music Prize and received widespread praise, and their live show takes things to another level.

For newcomers to the Uprock Social Club...here's how it works. We put on a night, you come along and decide how much to pay.

Further details including support to be announced closer to the time.

We're so excited.

The Invisible on MySpace

He's not Dead!? Let's Sing!

2009-08-24T12:33:00.000-07:00

I can't remember when and where I got told it, but I thought Bobby McFerrin shot himself after recording Don't Worry Be Happy. I think I even heard it in a film after I had been told.

Apparently this isn't true and he is alive and well talking at international science festivals. I was seriously impressed with what I saw. Sing along with him it makes it more fun.

P.s. If anyone knows why I thought he was dead, or if I've confused it with something else please reply in the comment box

Wild thing, I think I love you

2009-08-11T05:08:00.000-07:00

Latest Where The Wild Things Are trailer unveiled - Uprock excitement guage now reads 'Hysterical'.

Looking well worth the long wait.

Hey Uprock you're so fine, you're so fine you blow my mind, hey Uprock!

2009-08-10T08:40:00.000-07:00

Or so says Ip1 Magazine...
Not that we care much for publicity.

T-Shirt news 3 - Whitey

2009-08-03T11:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the only message you need to give out is I'm fresh and clean. A regular white is all you need to do this. You can get shirts like this most places but if you're looking for a good deal you should look up Bubbles down in Hamsterdam, he'll hook you up.

The Wire is a favorite for all at Uprock (that have watched it). I've just started season four where I was expecting more of the same good quality but instead it's gone from great to greater.

Music response

2009-08-03T03:57:00.000-07:00

It's always nice when people come up to us when we're DJing - whether it's for a chat, to say hi or to ask about a record we've played during the night. We like to consider ourselves approachable.

Anyway, this post was prompted by the above happening pretty much every time we've played Half Full Glass of Wine by Australian band Tame Impala.

The change of pace at the beginning...the authentic throwback sound...the bass...THAT riff...all make it a record that's impossible to ignore.

Anyway, in case you were wondering, that's what it's called, and here's how it sounds:

Another track people were asking about at UPROCK on Saturday was also by Tame Impala, who follow up Half Full Glass of Wine with a cover of Blueboy's Remember Me.

Remember that? It will no doubt divide opinion and may even get compared to Kula Shaka, but it sounded fresh turned up loud on Saturday.

Oh yeah! Daft Punk return

2009-07-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

Daft Punk - true innovators, genuine UPROCK idols and providers of perhaps the best live show ever - are about to return with their score for Tron Legacy:

Who knows what the film will be like, but the involvement of Daft Punk will keep us high on excitement for the next few months.

The early signs are promising, with what's said to be the theme (or 2 minute clip) sounding menacing yet not too disimilar to Human After All.

The Cryda Luv cut up, meanwhile, takes things back with some Homework era beats, albeit slowed down a bit.

Anyway, if that's not enough Daft Punk for you take a look at the idaft site (also an app for iPhone), which lets you recreate Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger:
iDaft

Finally, all this reminded me that last year as part of Out of Time Records' annual post Christmas sale (where all vinyl is £1), I spotted a young guy with Homework and Discovery in his hands and a slightly confused look on his face.

The excitement I felt on his behalf was both strange and immense.

Buy Daft Punk @ Amazon

Robot rock

2009-07-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid I remember wanting an Omnibot more than anything else.

This was entirely due to Tomy's 30 second TV ad, which tapped directly into every aspiration a kid like me could have - if I had this little guy on my side, I thought, the rest of my life would be pretty damn sweet.

Sadly it never happened and I faced up to the brutal reality of a life where you have to carry orange juice and croissants around for yourself and find different ways to win friends (I'm still working on that bit).

Then, last week my Dad was clearing out a load of junk for his boss and there sat a still boxed, pretty much unplayed, Omnibot.
Turns out that someone else had the toy that I wanted and didn't even bother playing with him. And in the cold light of 2009 it was pretty underwhelming to finally pick Omnibot up, although the idea of having a robot servant that plays cassettes is still way up there as a concept.

If you've never seen the TV advert here it is - Tomy really pulled out all the stops on this one, you can see why I was hooked (and maybe why I ended up in marketing):

Obey the King

2009-07-28T15:05:00.001-07:00

As seen in the woods at Latitude.

Latitude 09 review

2009-07-20T14:22:00.000-07:00

Another year, another incredible three days' worth of entertainment right on our door-step.

Here are our highlights…

Fever Ray – Uncut Stage, Friday
In which Karin Dreijer-Andersson spends two thirds of the performance sheltered under her robe looking part tribal god, part costumed extra from Where The Wild Things Are.

Accompanied by a full laser show and a set of costumed accomplices (our favourite being the dog boy in a ruffled shirt), the aural experience somehow still succeeded in overtaking the visual, with a bewildering mix of beauty and nightmare.

The fact that it all happened before tea-time made it seem even more surreal.

Thom Yorke – Obelisk Arena, Sunday
If you could choose a way to start a day this would probably take some beating – waking up in the Latitude campsite to the sound of Thom Yorke’s sound-check drifting on the early morning breeze.

Come midday, Thom made his way back on stage and managed to make a headline performance to the biggest crowd of the weekend feel like the most intimate gig you’ve seen.

So beautiful it made you want to cry.

Local Natives – Sunrise Arena, Friday
Winning the best new band of the weekend accolade by a distance, Uprock’s heart was stolen by five charming guys from Los Angeles.

Wearing their hearts proudly on their sleeves and clearly touched by the response to their first ever festival performance, their tight harmonies and emotional edge made a massive impression on us. In return we bought them beer and begged them to come play for us.

Completing our stalking session, Ric also managed to record a couple of acoustic tracks backstage, which you can hear on BBC iPlayer.

Golden Silvers – Lake Stage, Friday
Following in the footsteps of fellow Uprock alumni, The Cheek, Golden Silvers were given the nod by Huw Stephens to headline the Lake Stage this year and have never looked more at home.

A criticism of Latitude could be the limited number of danceable acts in comparison to other festivals but this (admittedly made-up) argument was undone with a set that showcased their debut album in all its glory.

Jeffrey Lewis – Poetry Tent, Saturday
Scheduled to appear three times over the course of the weekend, things didn’t get off to a promising start when organisers explained that Jeffrey had broken down outside London and wouldn’t be delivering his thesis presentation on the artwork of Watchmen (the fact that this announcement was made to a packed film tent seconds before he was due to appear was a rare blip in the organisation of the festival).

But all was forgiven at 12:30am the next morning when Jeffrey shuffled on stage in the Poetry Tent and swung seamlessly between brand new and old material, a rap about mosquitoes, and the unveiling of his recently completed detective comic.

When he finished, Uprock and a handful of geeks (notice how we don’t put ourselves in that category) were treated to an ad hoc Watchmen Q&A with Jeffrey round the side of the Literature Tent. Most asked question – “What did you think of the movie?. Paraphrased answer – “It was okay, lacked emotion though”.

Phoenix – Obelisk Arena, Sunday
Ending our long wait to see them live, Uprock favourites Phoenix played the Sunday night and exceeded our already high expectations. Opening with ‘Lisztomania’ and ending with a beefed up ‘1901’, there couldn’t have been a more fitting way to end the weekend.

And kudos to Andy for winning delayed lol of the festival, claiming that the drummer looks like Carlton Banks in a text that arrived 14 hours after they finished their set.

Photos by Jen O Neil, Chris Gornell and BBC Suffolk

SwanFest - "shake what ya mama gave ya"

2009-07-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

King Charles

Young talent

2009-07-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

It's a sign of the times that writing a blog about two young boys and following it up with a video of two young girls makes us feel a bit odd, but there you go. We've got kids and one of us even had a recent successful CRB check, so deal with it.

Anyway....White Tea. An 11-year-old and a 14-year-old who say 'were half of what a ganster is'. They might not know how to use apostrophes, but they make a good tune.

And playing it on Saturday reminded us of how good Smoosh were.

Playing and dancing to Rad as part of the post Good Shoes/Pigeon Detectives UPROCK lives on as a special memory.

White Tea on MySpace

Boy of today swaps iPod for Walkman

2009-07-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

What will he think?

Look here

Hmmmm bop

2009-06-30T08:34:00.000-07:00

People don't appreciate how tough it can be being a musical snob.

Most of the time it's easy - tell tale signs such as major label bandwagon jumping or Radio One daytime playlist support mean we can turn our noses up without fearing any damaging repercussions.

But sometimes a band comes along and, although you get the feeling that you'll hate them in six months' time, the strength of a single track leaves you confused.

It temporarily knocks out the inbuilt gauge of what innovating trendsetters such as ourselves should dig.

'Can't stop, can't stop, can't stop my feet', these Junior Senior guys are amazing! 'Doopity, doop, doop, do-wo-doop', this shit is amazing!

And so on....to Young Fathers, a Scottish hip hop act who already have a couple of nauseating tracks on their MySpace alongside their forthcoming single, Straight Back On It.

I just can't decide....

Farewell MJ

2009-06-26T01:48:00.000-07:00

Everybody loves the sunshine

2009-06-18T02:53:00.000-07:00

It's the longest day of the year on Sunday. There's not much better than long, warm nights in England - it's just a pity it will start to go downhill from next week.

Anyway, this isn't a weather blog. It's (mostly) about music. And genuinely good house music goes hand in hand with the sunshine.

More on Jamie Jones

*Postcard image stolen from Lettie, whose words and hoarded remnants paint a romanticised picture of times gone by: Lettie

Essay Like Nephew

2009-06-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

Lovely artwork, charming videos and songs perfect for a summer's day.

Essay Like Nephew provide proof, if neeeded, that it's often best if bands have the time to find their feet without the burden of hype and expectation.

But saying that, even if China Pop had of arrived on a wave of hysteria it would still satisfy the harshest of critics.

Download the full album via their website

T-Shirt News 2 -answers on a t-shirt

2009-06-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Silly John, he should have seen this.

UPROCK @ Swanfest 2009

2009-06-09T06:05:00.000-07:00

UPROCK is proud to be hosting the Saturday night at this year's Swanfest. There are some really good bands playing over the three days - Thursday 3 to Sunday 5 July.

Here's who we've got:

HOT CLUB DE PARIS

KING CHARLES

ANGRY VS THE BEAR

JAMES SEVERY and band

Tickets are going fast

A night with friends

2009-06-08T12:39:00.000-07:00

Saturday (6th June) was the first Uprock and Friends. Here's what we got up to and some of the songs that we played:

When I first heard that Pixelh8 was going to be DJing I was expecting to assalted with beeps and buzzes that I had not heard since playing my Sega Master System.

So I was surprised to hear a set made up of soul and funk. I was also pleased to find out where the sample in Mama Said Knock you out comes from.

Here is James at the start of the night putting his tunes together.

As you can see he’s working hard. The work paid off with tracks from - Daniel Johnston, TV On The Radio and Crystal Fighters.

The Cheek boys had signed a record deal with Universal on Thursday so as you can imagine they were in high spirits.

Highlights included Eric B and Rakim, Phoenix and Paris Hilton - which was cut short because they had to leave to catch a plane to Ibiza to write some new songs.

Thanks to all the guys for turning up and sharing some of their favourite songs. It was an eventful evening to say the least.

p.s. If anyone is interested I enjoyed playing MSTRKRFT feat John Legend

Andy

Polling Day

2009-06-04T02:08:00.000-07:00

Friends Together, Friends Forever....

2009-06-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

When Andy discovered he was the only one of the three Uprockers available for June's UPROCK we thought (not that) long and (not that) hard about how we could make it an excellent night and ease the pressure on Coke's number one fan.

So we got out our Rolodex, which sits on top of the previously mentioned alphabetically-sorted filing cabinet, and called up some friends for their help.

Being the nice guys they are they were all happy to help so this Saturday UPROCK will host special guest DJ slots from Pixelh8, James Severy and The Cheek.

We'll be going from 8pm until 1am @ The Swan, and admission is free.

Here's a taste of The Cheek in action:

And our thoughts on friendship put into words and pictures:

Insecticide

2009-05-31T13:10:00.001-07:00

One day a man decides to call time on his career in TV advertising, choosing instead to don a ringmasters outfit, round up a bunch of acrobats, dress them as beetles and ants and then take the show on the road as an insect circus.

Then, in an act of artistic/OCD genius, he sets about creating an insanely detailed back-story for the project, designs beautiful old bill posters, costumes and props, and showcases them all in a converted Bedford van as a travelling insect circus museum.

This weekend the circus came to Woodbridge.

(Buy Passion Pit 'Manners')

"An old record is a good record" - but free ones are best

2009-05-28T14:47:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I was at the Swan for one of the action packed multi DJ nights that happen every so often. As I was waiting my turn DJ Paulo played a song by Roxanne Shante that I had never heard before.

I had not heard a lot of the songs that had been played that night but this one stuck out. It was an old acid house track but had a sound that I felt could sit comfortably next to a lot of new electro and hiphop.

I enjoy finding old tracks that are able to cross over into a newer sound. Paulo was busy but luckly Ben Marr (aka Skeema) was on hand to tell me that it was produced by Brandon Cooke Featuring Roxanne Shante. Ben (who puts together all the vinyl in Blacksheep) said that he could get me a copy.

I had almost forgotten about all of this until today, I popped into Blacksheep to find that Ben had left me a 1988 promo copy on 12” vinyl for free. What a nice man.

Anyway here’s the track. It reminds me of stuff Mr Oizo and Uffie do now. It even has So-Me-esq video.

p.s. If you walk through town holding a piece of vinyl old people smile at you

Nuthin' but a "T" Thang

2009-05-21T14:11:00.000-07:00

After Good.New.Music one of our other collective passions here at Uprock are T-Shirts. Personally I like T-Shirts because they let people know what you like without having to talk about it. It's body size advertising space where you can share anything from favorite acts to personal ideologies.

Here are two shirts I would like to share with you.

Back in the the early 90's this shirt was available everywhere (my friend got his in Coco Pops). In 2009 it took me a while to track down, but finally found it online.

I hope you know who Dr Dre is. If not check out this video out from the album advertised on the shirt. Fingers crossed for the Detox this year.

Shirt number two was kindly given to me by Uprocker Ric. Ric knew that my favorite artist is Jean-Michel Basquiat. I was very grateful to receive a shirt with some of his work on.

Here's an interview with Basquiat with some of his joint work with Andy Warhol.

Watch out for more T-Shirt news soon.

Andy

A Good Ice Lolly in Disguise

2009-05-21T01:48:00.000-07:00

Rubbish movie tie ins may not be a regular part of this blog, but just when it looked like Transformers couldn't get any lower along comes the Nestle Transformers Ice Cube.

Stumbled across this in Ibiza and had hopes that it would be like the Spiderman and Jurassic Park lollies, two good examples of how to base cooling treats on a film.

But disappointment set in almost instantly on unwrapping.

For a start, at the equivalent of £1 it was more than twice the price.

Secondly, look at it. Why's it square and so small?

The first Transformers film was probably one of the worst ever seen so I've no plans to see the sequel. But I do wonder what role the cola and lemon flavoured cube will play in the storyline.

Worst.film.tie.in.ice.cream ever.

Nestle's full range of Transformers merch