What it is
To celebrate Mandela Day on July 18th, The Space and Connect ZA have co-commissioned three new moving image artworks from six emerging, South African and British visual artists, animators and musicians, called ‘Mandela Day Shorts.’
My Dry Wet Mess - Laptop Lapdance EP
FG003 (12” & digital) released 7th July 2014
Bandcamp I BLEEP I Boomkat I iTunes
Italian producer My Dry Wet Mess, aka Giovanni Civitenga, is a name that has resonated in the world of left field/beats since it’s exciting fledgling years. Though his father is the bass player for Ennio Morricone’s orchestra and a studio guitarist on numerous Italian records, from a young age Gio was drawn towards hip hop. Having released albums on Daedleus’ Magical Properties and Flying Lotus’ Brainfeeder, Fine Grains present his debut vinyl release - ‘Laptop Lapdance’. The EP comes equipped with remixes by Hyperdub’ Ikonika, Dam Mantle and Auntie Flo.
Support from Gilles Peterson, Tom Ravenscroft (BBC R6), B.Traits & Rob Da Bank (BBC R1).
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EP Tracklist
1. Twos Too
2. Nailed Scale
3. Eyelids’ Secrets
4. Infinito
5. Nailed Scale (@auntie-flo remix)
6. Nailed Scale (@dammantle remix)
7. Eyelids’ Secrets (@ikonika Scenario Adjustment remix)
8. Eyelids’ Secrets (@ikonika Shy remix)
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> VIDEO
My Dry Wet Mess ‘Infinito’ video by Florence To
Mastered: Sam at Precise I Design: Alexander Horne I Distribution: Rubadub & Phonofile
For more info & bookings: hello@finegrainsrecords.com
North America Tour begins tomorrow!
July 10 - Datcha , Montreal w/ Dreems and Thomas Von Party ( Multi Culti)
July 11 - The Dophin, Philly w/ Pittsburgh Track Authority
July 12 - PS1 at MoMA The Museum of Modern Art NYC w/ Mister Saturday Night, Archie Pelago, Cibo Matto etc
July 12 - Discovery, Brooklyn NYC
All electronic devices fully charged!
Autonomous Africa Volume 3
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This is the third Autonomous Africa EP, the idea being that one EP is released each year and all proceeds are donated to a charity in Africa. Last year’s second volume, along with a fundraising night in Glasgow and another in London raised several thousand pounds for the Mtandika Mission in Tanzania (more info on that below). Midland grew up in Tanzania and his parents run the aforementioned charity so it feels fitting that AA continues to raise funds for that. Midland has once again contributed a stellar track as has AA stalwart Auntie Flo (who has now contributed to all three releases). This year they are joined by Glasgow funksters General Ludd and then Twitch rounds off the EP. All being well, this year will also see an AA compilation album of music from Africa.
EP tracks are
A1) Midland - Safi
A2) General Ludd - Burning Mack
AA1) Auntie Flo - Daabi
AA2) JD Twitch - Maya
All tracks mastered by Matt Colton.
Distribution by Above Board. Released late July / August 2014 on 12”. Digital will follow.
A big, warm thank you to I AM in Glasgow and Trouble Vision in London for putting on AA fundraising nights and for their immense generosity.
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Why Autonomous Africa?
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Many of the problems Africa faces are a result of outside interference by other countries, and as the 21st century progresses we will see the continued pillage of African resources to feed the global capitalist machine on an unprecedented scale. Corrupt and greedy regimes gladly sell their land and mineral wealth to finance their own extravagant lifestyles while the vast majority of ordinary people see little or no improvement in their own lives. An autonomous Africa run by the people for the people, where African land is predominantly used to feed African people and Africa’s vast wealth of resources is used to benefit the people of Africa seems the only logical way forward. Autonomous Africa’s goal is to highlight this message and here presents to you 4 tracks of African inspired grooves.
We fully realise a small run, independently released 12” is going to make very little difference to the world, but doing something has to be better than doing nothing. The idea of an autonomous Africa may be naive and unrealistic, but at some point the world we live in will have to change or future generations are going to be left with very little as we consume way more than our fair share. We have collectively buried our heads in the sand thinking we are powerless to engender change. Individually we have little power but collectively, the power is ours.
JD Twitch, June 2013.
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About The Mtandika Mission
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Mtandika is a large village in the dry Ruaha river valley, 400km west of Dar es Salaam. It is a very poor village.
One of the prime movers in the village is Sister Barberina Mhagala. Since she retired from being Headmistress of the Primary School in 2005, Sister Barberina has been developing a Trade School at Mtandika to provide skills training for girls who are either orphans or have no fees for secondary education. She started by building a classroom and dormitory for the Trade School girls who were given sewing lessons and learning to make garments to sell.
Because many of the children do not have homes locally, accommodation is critical. So Sister then built extra accommodation blocks, not only for some of the girls attending the Trade School but also for some 80 girls attending the local Lukosi Secondary School where there was no accommodation.
The girls are taught to be as self sufficient as possible and as well and grow their own food and rear animals in the school grounds.
Water supply is critical, as water is not only required for every day purposes at the school but for irrigating the shambas [allotments]. Water is currently pumped from the nearby perennial Lukosi river some 500 metres away using a petrol pump. Investigations into a cheaper alternative are being investigated.
Education is essential if Tanzania is to fully develop its full potential and anything is possible given the opportunity. As well as supporting Sister Barberina in her capital expenditure, some 10 of the children at the Trade School and 30 at local Secondary Schools who cannot afford the fees are sponsored by funds raised by the charity.
More information - www.actioninafrica.org/about-mtandika.php
For Mawimbi’s first birthday we invited Club Highlife to play in Paris.
Before the party we went on air on Rinse France, here is what we did there with our guests.
Later this year Red Snapper will release their seventh studio album ‘Hyena’ on the excellent Lo Recordings. A new chapter in their fascinating career that has spanned two decades during which they’ve explored the stripped back nature of the drum and the bass in all its many different forms. Red Snapper were one Warp’s first non-doof-doof plink plonk signings way back in 1996 who they recorded three albums for. New album Hyena is an afrofunk psychedelic road trip, influenced by the music that they composed in 2013 for 70s cult Senegalese film Touki Bouki. The dark energy of Red Snapper is still all there… There’s a single incoming with a cracking Auntie Flo remix of which we have the premiere of… you can listen to that right here and read an interview with Richard Thair the guiding rhythm of Snapper here:
http://www.theransomnote.co.uk/music/interviews/red-snapper-talk/
What could serve as a better precursor for the soon coming Huntleys + Palmers takeover of Room Three than a mix from (nearly) all of the crew who are making their return to Farringdon to serve up their technoid electro funk with a smattering of afrobeat-esque polyrhythms along the way? Well, as luck would have it, we have exactly that and you can grab an exclusive first listen to the mix right here on the blog with Auntie Flo, Esa & Andrew recorded live in Cologne earlier this year.
Label leader Andrew describes it thusly…
“The mix was recorded at the excellent Gewölbe venue in Cologne earlier in May as part of a 3 hour set from Auntie Flo, Esa and I. Featuring additional percussion and FX throughout, it represents a snapshot of what to expect musically at one of our parties.”
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Tickets to see them are here : http://www.fabriclondon.com/club/listing/922
Auntie Flo Hey Don’t Make Trouble (She’s the Woman of Your Boss)
“My boss’ wife is pregnant…and me, me, now Im gona have problems..So, I’m giving this advice to anyone that has a boss, in this life, you can make mistakes, but just don’t touch your boss’ wife, don’t look for trouble in this life, don’t touch your boss wife, because at the end of the month, it’s your boss who pays your wages”
The Glasgow/London based musician worked with vocalists from the Ivory Coast. The lyrics are a tongue and cheek rhyme that is commonly known in the Ivory Coast and represent a very sage piece of advice: ‘Don’t sleep with your bosses wife’!
The connection was made by German-based Ivory Coast DJ/Producer Raoul K. Upon hearing Auntie Flo’s instrumental version he immediately recognised the rhythm as similar to a traditional rhyme from his Ivory Coast homeland. He then helped facilitate the vocal recording and a few months later the track was finished.
Forthcoming Permanent Vacation April 28th 2014
We caught up with Brian d’Souza while he was in Berlin to perform at Renate’s Voyage Voyage. The interview took place in a hotel room at the Michelberger Hotel on Warschauer Straße before he caught his flight back to the UK.
https://soundcloud.com/auntie-flo
www.huntleyspalmers.com/
https://www.facebook.com/HighlifeMusicClub
http://www.michelbergerhotel.com/
Music selections include…
Auntie Flo - Yllw Fllw - on Huntleys & Palmers
Auntie Flo - Can I Have Him - on Huntleys & Palmers
Auntie Flo - I Want to Blow Your Mind feat. Esa - on Huntleys & Palmers
Auntie Flo - Hey Don’t Make Trouble (vocal dub)- Forthcoming on Permanent Vacation
Auntie Flo - Oh My Days (Pearson Sound Re-Fix) - on Huntleys & Palmers
Auntie Flo - Lumbalu - on HIGHLIFE
Duologue - Push It (Auntie Flo’s Remix)- on Philomena
