The Knife are a brother and sister duo -  Karin and Olof Dreijer, from Stockholm - Karin previoulsy got a mention in this blog as the vocallist on Röyksopp's mesmerisingly massive'What Else Is There?'. This is a twitchy arpegiated techno track with heavily processed vocals that struggle to lift themselves out of a sea of bleeps.

A favourite of the moment, mashing up grooves from Grease and Salt n Pepa ('Summer Lovin' and 'Push It' to be specific) with a female mc liberally dropping rio funk vocals over the top it's just too irresistable not to love. This is their first release, available on Diplo's Mad Decent record label.

This outfit from Quebec would win a spot in my favourite list for their name alone - the name comes from an obscure documentary following a Japanese Biker gang calling themselves The Black Emperors.  However their unique flavour of avant-garde post rock noise is what really matters once you get past marvelling at the name. Originally formed in 1994 as a threesome their line up has changed regularly with as many as 15 members at one time, with most of their recordings being made with a 9 member line up. That many musicians can make quite a noise.

Their albums are constructed out of extended 20 minute tracks which are split into shorter movements (the sleevenotes typically provide some roadmap to help navigate their pieces) - carrying the standard for progressive rock two decades after punk and disco struck it down. I've picked the first track from "Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven"  as my selection, but really this is another one of those cases where it's too small a selection to really get a handle on the artist.

This is an easy pick for the quirky icelandic queen, easily the most accessible of all her records and yet still packed with lyrics that are hard to understand. The video is kinda cool too.

I have to do this one soon since Skye is getting really good at repeating our wirds back to us, so the swearing is going to have to disappear from the house for a few years.... Anyway, there's a small link between Peaches and Kelis (and Björk) - Kelis and Björk had dressing rooms next door to each other for a show and Björk's copy of 'Fatherfucker' was skipping, so Kelis gave Björk her copy - and the next thing you know Kelis is working with Björk on 'Oceania'. See, Peaches music can bring people together in all sorts of ways......

For a while Merrill Nisker performed folk music at Toronto coffee shops, until one day she realised her heart wasn't in it... well it probably wasn't her heart given the pervading sexual themes of her music in the guise of Peaches. She pretty much recorded her first records using nothing more than a groove box to lay down minimalist bass and percussion, all the better to hear her lyrics, classy is not a word tha comes to mind. Anyway, this is the closest thing she has to an anthem, and anyone can sing the chorus, at least as well as Peaches.

In the interest of fairness I should disclose that I have a minor personal link with her manager, Janice used to be a bartender at the bar where I was resident DJ, and she gave me so many free drinks that it'd be hard for me not to like what she was promoting......

Sure, everyone knows 'Caught Out There'  and 'Milkshake' but this is one of the best kept secrets in her catalogue. The only single to be released from her second album 'Wanderland' it barely made the top 40 in the UK largely on the strength of the Timo Maas remix. It's classic Maas/Buttrich production, but with the vocals taking much more of a leading role in proceedings compared with previous work by the gurning german. This remix kicked off a longer term collaboration which has seen Kelis writing and performing stand out tracks on Timo's studio albums - 'Loud' and 'Pictures'.

With an up front vocal it would be easy to just create a straight up 'by the numbers' pianos and divas house track. However the track sounds like nothing else, taking the funky wet'n'hard sound that Timo popularised and slowing it down to 123bpm it feels unstable and on the edge of stalling. There's just enough musical impetus to keep it airborne and enjoy the musical landscape as you've never quite seen it before.

You know when I write these things I usually don't have all the facts that end up in the final article, I google around and sometimes this surfing turns up something that transforms my understanding of a record.

Like this gem from Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vapors

"Turning Japanese" was often rumoured to be a euphemism for excessive masturbation, and the subject of the song. This is based on the perception that men make a face where they squint their eyes and curl their lips to expose the upper incisors, resembling the stereotypical image of a Japanese person, during masturbation and orgasm. Though frontman Dave Fenton viewed it as a love song when writing it, he would alternately confirm and deny the rumours in interviews.

Well anything I could say about the general awesomeness of this record would be overshadowed by that...  I still like to play it in DJ sets, usually at the end or mix it into some DnB so I can change the tone.

Amy used to tell me how she used to listen to this 7" so much that her cousin 'accidently' broke it, so, a couple of years ago I was acquired a repress for her birthday. I 'presented' it as the first track in my DJ set at 'Butter' that night - it went over a treat and I mixed it seamlessly into some cheezy big beat, which may not be cool any more, but everyone loved it anyway.....

So, the record was originally released in 1979 and was a huge hit - especially with the critics who hated disco and were worried that this whole punk thing was going to replace it. It's hard not to like this straight ahead pop-rock record, even though it's mass popularity ultimately turned into a popular backlash that ultimately caused the band to split. But in the 90's they regrouped and released new material while maintaining a healthy live schedule....

This is one band where you never have to wonder which of their hits they're going to play as an encore.

Not Gaelic, Scots - as you might find in the Poetry of Robert Burns. Even if you only understand common english you can read and understand quite a bit of this incarnation of the online encyclopedia.

http://sco.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

This was the first place I heard of Henry Rollins - recorded in 1981 Rollins had just joined Black Flag a few weeks before the recording session. Previously the band had tried to record full length albums with other ( I'm tempted to say 'lesser') vocallists, but these sessions hadn't produced enough good material for an album. Since Henry was so new they band recorded the backing vocals without the singer and then later the vocals were recorded by Henry with band leaders Greg Ginn  (who wrote the song)and Chuck Dukowski coaching him.

This track features the entire band on backing vocals, they're supposed to sound like amateurs, it's funnier that way. Singing about how they're going to sit on the couch, drink beer and watch TV - something that's hard to imagine Henry doing these days. The album ended up getting mired in legal disputes for a couple of years, but this single did make it onto the soundtrack for cult classic Repo Man.