Creamtone

By popular demand (and cos I’m nice!), here are a ton o’ clips of the Beastie Boys that I captured during Good Vibrations.

Keepin’ up the good vibes…
(Apologies for the bad audio; my CANON IXUS couldn’t take the bass, I guess!)

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GONG XI FA CAI!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

It’s 3am. Just got back from Fort Canning Park — was there for the most excellent Good Vibrations Festival.

Jurassic 5 was tight as hell…

and the Beastie Boys…

The Beasties were DA BOMB!

They played an awesome set combining LIVE funk jamming, old skool rap with hilarious stage antics and of course, PUNK tunes — the crowd went absolutely mental when they played ‘Sabotage’ as a concert-closer.

They even dedicated this closing song to a special someone…

This next song is dedicated to the President of the United States of America… George W Bush!

Then they launched into the riff for ‘Sabotage’. Brilliant!

Mixmaster Mike displayed dope turntablism skillz with wicked-mad scratching & beat-juggling. Watch the video below where he shows off during the ENCORE performance and see the crowd go wild when he drops the first samples of ‘Intergalactic’!

Headbanging at his keyboard was Money Mark who was insanely funny too — especially when he ran amok like a crazy monkey and LEAPT onto his keyboard after jumping up and down with wild abandon during ‘Sabotage’; he went crashing onto the stage floor with the keyboard then picked himself up sheepishly! Haha. Watch the video below… he’s at right side of the stage!

Then there’s the dude from the crowd who climbed up the tall scaffolding and needed 2 security personnel to yank him down. Here are 2 videos of that. LOL… RAWK!

Not just one…

But TWO!

Here are a few more video excerpts I took for your viewing pleasure…
(sorry about the bad audio, the sound system was LOUD!)

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I had waited almost 15 (fifteen!) years to watch the Beastie Boys perform LIVE — ever since ‘Licensed To Ill’ funked up my life — and it’s been well worth the wait.

** If you want any of the photos or videos, please leave me a comment or
email me: adrian@creamtone[dot]net & I’ll gladly send you high-res ones.
Please don’t hot-link or use them without my permission, okay? Aiiight.

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I walks to da HMV and pays da nice man some dosh.
Da man gives me uno Early Bird Ticket!

I says da vibes is hiphoppity goot.
Da man says “Beastie Boys, Mixmaster Mike, Money Mark, Jurassic 5, Ursula 1000.”
I thinks to mah self… “Ooo la la… So goot it hurts.”

Ahyeah… Hurt me goot, baybeh.

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Anyone who knows me well knows that I worship Matthew Herbert.

Always displaying a healthy dose of eccentricity in his music production, his works never fail to inspire me with the sheer creativity & imaginative use of sounds (including audio samples from body parts, McDonald’s drink straws, Coke cans, etc.); he also often injects plenty of soul into his melodies. Heck, his beautifully twisted brain is bursting with so many ideas that he had to create FIVE music monikers to represent them — Herbert / Dr Rockit / Wishmountain / Radioboy / Matthew Herbert Big Band.

He is truly a music innovator… a sampling superhero… for me, listening to his music is like riding on Disneyland’s Space Mountain for the first time when I was a kid — thrilling, magical, adrenaline-pumping & unpredictable (you never know what to expect).

The best thing is, he studied at Exeter University which is the same University I graduated from! Obviously, this remote link doesn’t automatically guarantee that I would ever become a musical genius too… but one can always fantasise, right?

The Audience still remains my absolute favourite Herbert track, for so many sentimental reasons…

Herbert - The Audience (feat. Dani Siciliano)
** From the album “Bodily Functions” (!K7/Soundslike, 2001)

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Jamie Lidell is another one of those crazy-talented artists. This dude was one of the masterminds behind Super_Collider (with Cristian Vogel), an electronic techno-funk outfit. He had released lots of avant garde electronica (also known as IDM — Intelligent Dance Music) under Warp Records. His many electronic productions always struck me as sounding very warm and almost organic, despite all the digital equipment used.

Now comes the huge twist that even M. Night Shyamalan couldn’t have scripted… Jamie Lidell suddenly decides he wants to release a 60’s soul/motown/prince inspired album!

Yes, Jamie Lidell can sing! And bloody well too. He’s also somehow managed to embellish soul music with modern electronics to produce a fantastic future-fresh fusion. This quote best sums up his talent…

A wonder to behold. Remarkably for an Englishman in his twenties, he possesses a soul voice fried in honey like Sly Stone or Prince, and a beatboxing talent to make Muhammad Ali quake in his Everlast. Lidell constructs his tracks live, voicing and layering right in front of your eyes, effortlessly whipping them out of the air and forging them into clanking electro riffs and deathprod funk grooves. His maniac scat is deployed through vocoder, and his real-time arranging follows chaotic but gripping patterns. (The Wire, SONAR Festival)

So, what has Matthew Herbert gotta do with Jamie Lidell? Well, besides being long-time collaborators, Jamie actually remixed Herbert’s The Audience which marked the beginning of his metamorphosis from an electronic wizard into a smooth soul-vocalist. Sure, his remix hardly sounded like the original, but he kept the same vibe and pushed it beyond its boundaries. Here, have a listen…

Herbert vs. Jamie Lidell & The Mysterious Szizlas -
The Audience (Music No Last)
** This track later became “Music Will Not Last” on Jamie Lidell’s album “Multiply”
(Warp Records, 2005)

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Here’s Matthew Herbert returning the remixing favour to Jamie Lidell…

ORIGINAL: Jamie Lidell - Multiply

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REMIX: Jamie Lidell - Multiply (Herbert’s Hoedown Bump)

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My 2nd album that I’m working on right now will no doubt be inspired by these 2 amazing artists.

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Ever since I discovered Internet radio some 5 years ago, no station has quenched my musical thirst more consistently and had me beaming from ear to ear more often than SomaFM.

It is a listener-supported, commercial-free Internet radio station that is run by a bunch of guys broadcasting from a basement in San Francisco.

SomaFM boasts 7 stations broadcasting a gorgeous rainbow of musical genres, each one holding a unique personal space in my heart…

DRONE ZONE
“Served best chilled, safe with most medications. Atmospheric textures / minimal beats.”

I spent many cold winter nights in London spacing out to the intimate ambient soundscapes of Drone Zone, which was the 1st station that was launched by SomaFM. Beautiful bliss.

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

BEAT BLENDER
“A late night blend of deep-house and downtempo chill.”

Whenever I’m in the mood for something more upbeat yet chilled, Beat Blender offers an eclectic selection of triphop, downtempo, chillout, jazz and house. Pure class.

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

GROOVE SALAD
“A nicely chilled plate of ambient beats and grooves.”

Ahhh… The soundtrack to endless summer days, lazing on the grass with a pint of Stella in one hand. And who can forget the bikini babes?

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

CLIQHOP IDM
“Blips’n'beeps backed mostly w/beats. Intelligent Dance Music.”

It always amazes me how digital machines — so artificial, so synthetic, so non-organic — can create soundscapes that move the soul & soothe the most savage beast.

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

SECRET AGENT
“The soundtrack for your stylish, mysterious, dangerous life. For Spies and PIs too!”

This is where it starts to get funky and kitschy. If you’re in the mood for uber stylish tunes to match your mysterious moonlighting job as a secret agent, this is the station for you.

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

INDIE POP ROCKS
“New and your favorite classic indie pop tracks.”

Once in a while, I like to switch off all that electronica & indulge in some frenetic air-guitar action. I swear there’s an aspiring rock-star wannabe hidden inside me.

Tune In:
128k mp3 stream

TAG’S TRANCE TRIP
“Progressive house / trance. Tip top tunes.”

Ahh, how it all began… Dancing in abandoned cathedrals in Brixton with megawatt soundsystems, gurning like mad monkeys and never wanting the music to end. Memories!

Tune In:
160k mp3 stream

After 5 years, SomaFM still kicks butt. According to their website, the name Soma is based on “the future’s perfect pleasure drug”.

Word.

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A while ago, I came across a sweet hip-hop/dusty breaks/big-horns cover version of Just by Radiohead, off the brilliant album The Bends.

This version is by DJ Mark Ronson featuring Alex Greenwald (lead singer of Phantom Planet) backed by invincible horns from The Dap Kings.

The Motion Group/Abbey Road Video Services have made a wicked video for it that showcases London graffitti art in animation — there’s even some Banksy in it.

Lovely stuff.

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Update: Just found out that it’s gonna be on an album of Radiohead covers, released by British label BBE… featuring versions by The Cinematic Orchestra, Matthew Herbert and RJD2.

Booyaa!

Here’s a sweeeeet Radiohead homebrew animation of Creep (Acoustic) by Low Morale … Click on the Flash movie to view!

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