Secret Archives of the Vatican Blog

Pure Land - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 74

2011-12-10T09:06:00.001Z

Pure Land - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 74 is now available from here:

Tracks

1000 Buddhas of the Pureland of Bass
FreQ Nasty
http://soundcloud.com/urb-com/freq-nasty-1000-buddhas-of-the
Mutants
Dysphemic
http://soundcloud.com/alan-dubstep-maggot/mutants-by-dysphemic-dark-drum
Meet the Queen
Onra
http://soundcloud.com/onra
Nsani Be Mara
Caravane http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/caravane/id474788251
Hide and Seek
Onra
http://soundcloud.com/onra
Golden Lotus
B1t Crunch3r Vs. Fuzz2k http://phantomhertz.com/
The Emperor
Truth and Dedoda
http://wheelanddealrecords.co.uk/
Through the Flesh
Onra
http://soundcloud.com/onra
The Road We Walk
Secret Archives of the Vatican http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Indian Girl (Dominic Owen Remix)
The Love Theme http://soundcloud.com/permanentdamagerecords/indian-girl-dub-dominic-owen-remix
Ms Ho
Onra
http://soundcloud.com/onra
Hobina Ghiretna
Caravane
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/caravane/id474788251
We A De Rasta
Shekel ft. Nechi Nech
http://soundcloud.com/shekel/shekel-ft-nechi-nech-we-a-de

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.Confucius

Ancient Dub - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 73

2011-12-03T17:33:00.001Z

Ancient Dub - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 73 is now available. It is, as always, an eclectic collection of awesome tunes!

You can find it here:

iTunes

Libsyn

MixCloud

Tracks

Bass Mantra
Celt Islam
http://soundcloud.com/celt-islam/bass-mantra-by-celt-islam
Dawn, Basra Spaceport
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Low Orbit
Dubsahara
http://soundcloud.com/dubsahara/low-orbit
http://dubsahara.com/about/dubsahara
Snake Charmer
DungeonDynamics
http://soundcloud.com/dungeondynamics/06-snake-charmer
Snake Charmer
KingImagine=Bass Assassin
http://soundcloud.com/ikingiman/snake-charmer
Ancient Dub 2
Ashley
http://ashleysound.webs.com/
Endless Night Dub
DuBoLoGy
http://soundcloud.com/dubology-2/dubology-endless-night-dub
The Witching Wall (ZitanB Remix)
San Jaya Prime
http://sanjayaprime.bandcamp.com/album/io-pulse
Zen
ZitanB
http://zitanb.bandcamp.com/track/zen

'Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free'
Rumi

Lord Cry Cry

2011-11-26T09:48:00.001Z

A while back, Ginger Shinobi and I did a DJ gig in Birmingham and we met up with DJ Umb of Generation Bass. We sat in DJ Umb's car while he played us three tunes from a forthcoming album by the mysteriously named Lord Cry Cry. Umb described the album to us as dubstep meets blues. This probably shouldn't work but it did - we liked what we heard.

Well, the album, Live at the CPU, is now out and you should get it.

The opener, Live at the CPU sounds live...rambling flute and keyboards and bluesy piano set the scene for what's to come. I Got the Clap Induced Blues Momma introduces a more dubsteppy bass sound and, indeed, a more traditional blues vocal. Step Nuthin' continues with the dubby bass and remains rooted in old blues, with an earky-sixties inflected guitar line and a mid-sixties soul vocal. Short but sweet. Dance of the Moores sounds a little like neo-classical art music with a hint of honkytonk piano - perhaps not as accessible initially as the preceding tunes but I think it'll be a grower. We're back to that psychedelic sixties' soul rhythm with Q-Cut and this leads into the fifties' science-fiction film sounds of SaltburnRedcar. SurfStep brings in a dub reggae riddim and more dubstep flavoured bass but once again has a sixties' sensibility in the keyboards. Schizoid Marimba starts quietly but builds - once again, there's a neo-classical music feel. The title is accurate. Blind Lightnin' Floor is a bluesy sounding title and is, indeed, a bluesy sounding track with a hint of electronica keeping it interesting. I think this is my favourite tune on the album. The closer, Lord High Commander, is an energetic classical music and reggae workout.

It's not the most obvious of albums...but the best music requires listeners to work a little. I suspect that each time you play this album, you'll hear something new.Apparently, the live shows feature a full blues band with the man himself and that's something I'd like to see.

Corty Meets…New release from Angel Dust Records

2011-11-25T13:22:00.001Z

Netlabel Angel Dust Records has just released its fifth release; the label has a plan for one release a month.

Corty Meets... is the first release from French dubster, Corty. Based in Rennes, Corty has collaborated with some of the finest and most prolific dub artists across the world: Revolushan (Strasbourg, France), Solo Banton (London, England), Bongo Chilli (Nottingham, England), Leah Rosier (Amsterdam, Netherlands) and Preecha Kungo (Massachusetts, USA).

Corty has been playing guitar since he was nine years old. He started using his computer to create dub in 2003 and hasn’t stopped since.

He says: 'I like the possibility of playing with different artists' voices, by using samplers. I want to continue with these kind of collaborations with many artists. All vocals are welcome!'

The album has eleven tracks, mostly with an upbeat, raggamuffin vibe.

Eastern Whisper - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 72

2011-11-25T10:24:00.001Z

Eastern Whisper - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 72 is now available from:

Tracks

Warlocks are Enemies of God
Subhuman
http://soundcloud.com/ssachnoff/warlocks-are-enemies-of-god
The Assyrian
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://soundcloud.com/vince-millett/secret-archives-of-the-9
Pharisee's Prayer
Solace
http://solace1.bandcamp.com/track/pharisees-prayer
Eastern Whisper
Dr Zoidberg
http://soundcloud.com/dr_zoidberg/dr-zoidberg-eastern-whisper
Red Lobstep
Dr Zoidberg
http://soundcloud.com/dr_zoidberg/dr-zoidberg-red-lobstep
Heretic
Solace
http://solace1.bandcamp.com/track/heretic
Faith Total Machine
Magleff
http://soundcloud.com/magleff/faith-total-machine2
I Want You Headless
Solace
http://solace1.bandcamp.com/track/i-want-you-headless
Moros
Afrasonic أفرسنك
http://soundcloud.com/afrasonic/moros/
The Triumph of Saint Lucy
Rob Vector
http://soundcloud.com/rob-vector/the-triumph-of-saint-lucy
Khatar
Solace
http://solace1.bandcamp.com/track/khatar
Ares (God of War)
WestinDinnesMusic
http://soundcloud.com/westind/ares-god-of-war

Dub Bus

2011-11-25T09:15:00.001Z

Podcasting legend Pete Cogle has released another excellent episode of The Dub Zone podcast.TDZ#13 features eight excellent dubwise tracks.

Full details HERE
Direct download HERE

Tracks

Aurobahn Garten - Volfoniq (feat. Tribuman)
Get On The Bus (Dubmatix Journeys Remix) - Delhi 2 Dublin
2006 A Dub Odyssee - Messian Dread
Rolling Lion Studio Full Effect - Rolling Lion Studio
Eek a Dub (at Shan School) - Shan-A-Shan
Shadow Procession Dub - DuBoLoGy
Peace Time - Eccodek
Occupying Dub - Steve Steppa

Pete Townsend gets it SO wrong

2011-10-31T22:05:00.000Z

I've just listened to the inaugural annual BBC John Peel lecture, given by elderly rock dinosaur Pete Townsend.

Read a BBC report HERE

Watch the lecture HERE

I expected him to ramble on about how great the old record industry was and to whinge about piracy and modern distribution methods for music. Well, fortunately he don't do quite what I expected. Unfortunately, though, he still delivered a rambling, incoherent and confused set of contradictions.

He went into some detail about how John Peel (pbuh) had acted as a filter, an introducer, a source of glorious random discovery of unexpected but brilliant music. He then went on to assert that such a person or process didn't exist in the modern digital music economy. He then went on to list many of the ways it actually DOES exist in the modern digital economy. Like I said, confused and contradictory.

He clearly had no real idea about podcasts or music blogs, despite talking about them.

Like everyone from the dying music industry or the radio industry, he made no mention of netlabels. They are not mentioned so often in discussions about the music industry that it has to be deliberate.

Next year, let's hope the BBC picks a speaker not because he was a member of some old band who made some good records 40 years ago but someone who actually has a finger on the pulse of emerging creative music. They're out there, BBC.

To use modern parlance, epic fail BBC! What a sadly wasted opportunity.

Truth Wars - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 67

2011-10-22T22:48:00.002+01:00

Episode 67 of the Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast is now available.

MixCloud
iTunes
Libsyn

Tracks

Truth Wars
Odd Thomas
https://www.facebook.com/OddThomas

Beautiful Pain
Propaganda
http://www.amazon.com/Beautiful-Pain/dp/B004KAKJKM

Dunjaluk الدنيا
Echomer
http://soundcloud.com/echomer

Quest - Bandish Projekt 7 Step Remix
Bandish Projekt
http://soundcloud.com/bandishprojekt/quest-bandish-projekt-7-step

Smack Your Bitch Up
Benga
http://soundcloud.com/iambenga/benga-smack-your-bitch-up-1

Streets of Katmandu
Dr Cat
http://soundcloud.com/drcatmusic/dr-cat-streets-of-katmandu

Katmandu
Vaughan
http://soundcloud.com/james-vaughan/katmandu

Juggernaut
Nova
http://generationbass.com/2011/10/22/nova-7-billion-miles-the-rebellion-begins-now/

2011-10-17T14:28:00.000+01:00

We've just added a new mix to our MixCloud page:Medieval Middle Eastern Mix

It's a little unusual - it's mix of predominantly acoustic and vocal music from various traditions: Arabo-Andalusian Muwashshah, Castillian, Flemish, Arabian, Moroccan, Persian, Kurdish, European and more...Several of the tunes are collaborations between musicians from different traditions.

Tracks

Allah Mazare (Acoustic)
Niyaz
El Hechizo De Babilonia
Luis Delgado
El Vergel Ignorado
Luis Delgado
Feraghi - Song Of Exile (Acoustic)
Niyaz
Li Habibun Maqamuhu Fawqa Ra'si
Ensemble Morkos
Novus Annus
Nour Ensemble
Nu Alrest
Radio Tarifa
Ramo Verde
Radio Tarifa
Si J'ai Perdu Mon Ami
Radio Tarifa
Ya Sakinan Bi-Fu'adi
Ensemble Morkos

2011-10-10T19:49:00.000+01:00

EaRtH CiTy ReCoRdZ is a new label set up by our friend Celt Islam and the label he has worked with for a while, Urban Sedated Records.

The label was set up for alternative and electronica musicians and artists and the label is happy to hear from anyone interested in releasing their material.

Please send any demos to Abu Sulayman at celtislam@googlemail.com

You can hear some of the label's music here: http://soundcloud.com/earthcityrecordz

.

The Dervish House - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 65

2011-10-09T07:59:00.000+01:00

'Knock, And He'll open the door
Vanish, And He'll make you shine like the sun
Fall, And He'll raise you to the heavens
Become nothing, And He'll turn you into everything.'
Jalal al-Deen Rumi

Episode 65 of the Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast van be downloaded from here:

Tracks

Mevlana
Celt Islam
http://www.urbansedated.com/celtislam.html
Ab-ı Beka Remix
Özgür Şakar aka Misda Oz vs Mercan Dede
http://www.doublemoon.com.tr/english/KatalogDetay.aspx?Katalog=70
Clock of the Long Now
Okulus Anomali
http://soundcloud.com/okulus/clock-of-the-long-now
Ab-ı Nar Remix
Serkan Alkan featuring Efe vs Mercan Dede
http://www.doublemoon.com.tr/english/KatalogDetay.aspx?Katalog=70
Bodega Ridge (The Spy from Cairo's Bodega via Cairo Remix)
Delhi 2 Dublin
http://delhi2dublin.bandcamp.com/
Dragon Roost Island Dubstep
Ephixa
http://soundcloud.com/ephixa/dragon-roost-island-dubstep
Gibran's Wisdom (featuring Hasna)
Oryx
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Oryx/dp/B00008KH2C/ref=cm_rdp_product_img
Salla
Makale
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makale_(band)
Khandit Nayaka (VIP REMIX)
Nucleya
http://soundcloud.com/highchai/nucleya-khandit-nayaka-vip
Ab-ı Hayat Remix
Transglobal Underground vs Mercan Dede
http://www.doublemoon.com.tr/english/KatalogDetay.aspx?Katalog=70
Dem
Azam Ali and Mercan Dede
http://www.doublemoon.com.tr/english/KatalogDetay.aspx?Katalog=80
800
Mercen Dede
http://www.mercandede.com/EN/

Traveller mix: beats, epic strings, tablas

2011-10-02T18:24:00.002+01:00

We've just uploaded a new DJ mix to our MixCloud page HERE

Epic orchestral strings, tablas, breakbeats, exquisite vocals, evocative Eastern intonations, beauty and bass.....

Tracks

TravellerTalvin Singh
GlidepathSecret Archives of the Vatican
Dawn PrayerDhafer Youssef
Khwaab Niraj Chag
The Empty QuarterSecret Archives of the Vatican
HayatiJah Wobble and the Temple of Sound
Holy BreathDhafer Youssef
Little FlowerSecret Archives of the Vatican
BanglesNiraj Chag
Traveller (Kid Loco's Once Upon a Time in the East Mix)Talvin Singh

Here Be Dragons!

2011-09-30T19:14:00.001+01:00

Here's a new mix we've just added to our MixCloud page:Here Be Dragons

Tracks

The Green Dragons - Amtronic
I Dream of Dragons - Retrotation
The Dragon - Stagga
Dragons (Instramental) - White Gorilla
For Glory, And Dragons - Gerbertgold
Black Dragon - Kasket
Dungeons&Dragons - Eazyprophyt
Purple Moon Dragon - Krusadr
Dragons - Puracane
Royal Dragon Sir - Tipper
Dragon's Dance - ScholarMan
Dragons and Lions - XiJaro

Review: Friglob - Life is Inna Riddim

2011-09-28T21:27:00.001+01:00

Excellent netlabel Angel Dust Records has released a third album and it maintains the high standard set by the previous two releases.

This one is from a Croatian artist called Friglob Skowski. The deep, spacious, bassline and dub siren that opens the first track sets the tone for the other tunes in this finely crafted collection - mostly instrumental, downtempo, tasteful, restrained.

Tracks

Nuf a Dem Suffering
Aerocore
Amorphous Criteria
Make a Turn
Mamica su Štrukle Pekli
Life is Inna Riddim
Love Music
You Waited Too Long

You can download Life is Inna Riddim free from HERE

Facebook and Spotify

2011-09-27T19:35:00.001+01:00

I've been saying for ages that Spotify is a bit crap and is essentially the old music industry masquerading as part of the modern world. The plot thickens.

In the same week that I found out that they pay different rates to independent record labels than to the old majors and that they won't tell anyone how much less they're paying the indies, the BBC reports that from now on anyone opening a Spotify account must also have a Facebook account.
Read the BBC news item HERE

Now, although I'm a big fan of Facebook for many reasons, this strikes me as just plain wrong. I have a sneaky suspicion that as Facebook's longer term plans become better known, we'll find huge pressure from Facebook subscribers to sign up to the risible Spotify.

Once again, the old industry tries a flanking maneuver to deceive people into buying back into the crap music the major labels churn out. Watch Facebook closely, people...

Elder Daze -Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 64

2011-09-25T19:31:00.000+01:00

Episode 64 of the Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast is now available from

Tracks

The Apostate
FLeCK
http://soundcloud.com/fleckathens/fleck-the-apostate-free

Ghostly Caravan
Dubtrak
http://soundcloud.com/dubtrak/dubtrak-ghostly-caravan

Ghostly Dub
DuBoLoGy
http://soundcloud.com/dubology-2/dubology-ghostly-dub

Dans la Grotte d'Aretousa
Sex Drugs and Rebetiko
http://netlabelsnoise.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/sex-drugs-rebetiko/

Cat Skillz
Beats Antique
http://www.relix.com/news/2011/09/23/beats-antique-cat-skillz

Meeting the Emperor
Fabled Enemies
http://soundcloud.com/fabled-enemies/meeting-the-emperor-free

God Hates Dub
Stereo Assassin
http://soundcloud.com/stereoassassin/god-hates-dub

The Freeing of Baghdad
Jordan Reyne
http://jordanreyne.bandcamp.com/track/the-freeing-of-baghdad

Future Will Be Dark (Medium Remix)
Clusta
http://congarecords.bandcamp.com/track/221-future-will-be-dark-remix

Messenger (DJ Melo Remix)
Second Sky
http://soundcloud.com/azdjmelo/second-sky-messenger-dj-melo

Also check out:
Ginger Shinobi, the ginger ninja
http://www.mixcloud.com/gingershinobi

What is music?

2011-09-21T14:14:00.000+01:00

What is music? I don't mean the question technically, with definitions of rhythm or melody. Nor do I mean it philosophically - I have no interest in philosophy, generally deeming philosophers to be clever but bone idle people, too lazy to apply their immense brains to more purposeful activities.

No, the question arose from some observations and a quote.

I pretty much live for music. I make it, buy it, steal it, blog about it, pimp it, opine about it and even listen to it. A lot.

Recently I went through a short period when I couldn't be bothered to put music on at home to listen to or to dial it up on my phone to provide a soundtrack to my daily commute to work. This got me worried - had I reached the age when people seem to just give up on all interest in music? In the end, I figured I was just very, cumulatively, tired from work and life in general. Sure enough, I took some time off work to rest and within a couple of days I was planning the next Secret Archives release and playing music very loudly in my flat as it was the daytime and my downstairs neighbours would be out.

Around the same time I met up with a friend who I hadn't spoken to for about a year. He'd always been a huge music fan - we'd booked artists together and run events and he'd often played me good music he'd been listening to. When we were catching up, he mentioned that he'd completely lost all interest in music and hardly listened to any now. In the previous year he'd been through a lot of pressure with his work and told me he'd suffered some mild depression. I threw in the idea that maybe it was because of that he'd lost connection with music and that maybe as he got more settled, his interest would revive.

Well, that very evening he spent a lot of time enthusiastically playing me tunes from YouTube, confirming my suspicion that losing interest in music is often connected with tiredness, depression and a general loss of the joie de vivre.

The next week I caught an episode of an American TV series called The History of Rock'n'Roll. Americans, of course, use the term to mean 'all music after 1952', so the series covered hiphop and other styles as well as rock. One snippet caught my attention. It was the legendary Joe Strummer:

'I think Rock n Roll, or hiphop, exists to deliver this truth that needs to be constantly delivered.... It reminds us, like this unspoken message is that, it is FUN to be alive.... It's a hell of a lot better than being dead'

And that, my friends, sums what I'd been pondering and trying to grasp. Music is a celebration of being alive. That explains why, when we're tired or struggling with life, it can be hard to get excited about music. But, at the end of the day, it's better being alive than being dead!

Autumn Moon - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 63

2011-09-17T19:38:00.000+01:00

Autumn Moon - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 63 is available from:

iTunes

Libsyn

MixCloud

Tracks

Baghdad
Squid Ninjaz
http://www.squidninjarecords.com/

Batkallim (David Starfire Remix)
Natacha Atlas
http://sixdegreesrecords.bandcamp.com/track/batkallim-david-starfire-remix

The Ancient Ceremony
Spoonhead
http://spoonhead.co.nz

White Guys with Dreadlocks
AreHouse
http://soundcloud.com/crossroadsrecordsmusic/arehouse-white-guys-with

Shakuhachi
Killawatt
hhttp://soundcloud.com/surus/killawatt-shakuhachi-ep

Ghosts of Shaolin
Cranium Breach
http://soundcloud.com/craniumbreach

Dark Chapel
DJ SnipaZ
http://soundcloud.com/bun_snipaz

Saladin
Torky Tork
http://torkytork.bandcamp.com/album/torky-tork-syria

Why We Exist
Loop Stepwalker and Sinister Souls
http://soundcloud.com/720bass

Griami
Pan Agnostix
http://soundcloud.com/okulus/griami-by-pan-agnostix-okulus

Ziad ft. Iggy Pot
Torky Tork
http://torkytork.bandcamp.com/album/torky-tork-syria

Judgement Come
Manwel T
http://manwelt.com/

Kutmah

2011-09-17T00:04:00.003+01:00

As some of you will know, the Secret Archives of the Vatican empire started back at the tail end of the tape trader scene at the end of the 80s. We wrote a little about it in an earlier post HERE.

One of the exciting aspects of that scene was the use of innovative marketing techniques, crazy ideas and truly counter-cultural ways of doing things.Today I was in Rough Trade, one of our last remaining independent record shops, and found something that genuinely excited me. I can understand if you think 'what's so exciting about that?' but it got my attention and it got me thinking.

I found a CDR by Kutmah, famously deported from the US in 2010 and now residing here in his country of birth, England. He had been unable to get to a Japanese radio station for some reason and had instead recorded them an hour long mix containing, among other things, unreleased tracks by Flying Lotus, Gonjasufi and Madlib.

The mostly non-existent packaging includes some stickers and the mix is on a silver CDR that has been beautifully hand illustrated. There are only 20 copies and it was on sale for £9.99. I couldn't afford it but bought it anyway.

This is art! £9.99 for a CDR with crap packaging? It's value is not based in the cheap CD or the scanty packaging but in the fact that it is unique and there is a human quality in this item that bridges the divide between modern digital music and a physical, hand-crafted form of presentation. It's also a superb collection of musical creativity!

It got me thinking of maybe producing some very small run, special, unique Secret Archives releases that we'll sell for cold, hard cash. Only joking! Well, kind of....I love the idea so we'll have a think about what we might do along those lines.

How do we market our new album? Part 9

2011-09-13T20:24:00.000+01:00

Well, here’s the final post on how we’ve marketed the Barbary Lion album. We’re not stopping, of course, but all the obvious main activity has happened and I’ve written about it.

We’ve gone past 300 downloads from Bandcamp and about 10% of downloaders have chosen to pay. The interest raised by this release has also led to a significant number of additional downloads of our back catalogue – there’s always a trickle but it ramped right up recently. We’ve also had a pleasing amount of plays of tracks from Barbary Lion in podcasts around the world. There seems to be no let up in Russian download sites bootlegging us but I don’t think that will really have made any difference to our own downloads.

I’ve sent marketing blurb and direct download links with friendly covering emails to lots of bass music and electronic music blogs over the last month but we’ve seen little response. I admit to being a little at a loss to explain this. They seem to be writing about, and reviewing, a wide range of related music and should, therefore, be interested in covering ours. I know it’s nothing to do with the quality of the release – we know it’s damned good. In some cases, the blogs are connected with people we know so it’s a little sad that there hasn’t been much interest. However, I’m a firm believer that it’s their call, not ours. We have to respect their decisions. I guess I don’t write about everything they do either.

We’ve learned a lot from this release. I believe the name-your-own-price model works well for us. It might work even better for those working in more mainstream musical genres. We’ve developed several of our musical ideas too and have already started planning the next couple of releases.

How do we market our new album? Part 8
How do we market our new album? Part 7
How do we market our new album? Part 6
How do we market our new album? Part 5
How do we market our new album? Part 4
How do we market our new album? Part 3
How do we market our new album? Part 2
How do we market our new album? Part 1

A Time To Dance - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 62

2011-09-08T23:38:00.000+01:00

Episode 62 of our very fine podcast is now available from:

Tracks

Exodust
Sharaab
http://soundcloud.com/sharaab/exodust
Epic Dub
DuBoLoGy
http://angeldustrecords.com/home/?page_id=467
Max Romeo - Chase the Devil (Guru RMX)
Radikal Guru
http://www.last.fm/music/Radikal+Guru
Sticks and Stones
Tek SubPort
http://soundcloud.com/teksubport
Videogames and Orchestras 'n dubstep stuff
Retrotation
http://soundcloud.com/retrotation/videogames-and-orchestras-n
No3 Dogma Street - Freerange DJs Remix
BackBeat SoundSystem
http://backbeatsoundsystem.bandcamp.com/track/no3-dogma-street-freerange-djs-remix
Make it Darker
AnodyneIndustries
http://anodyneindustries.bandcamp.com/album/the-gateway-ep
Get P (Hip Hop Bass Test)
TAV
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/6641293/Hip_Hop_Bass_Test_-_Get_P_by_Tavleen_Singh_%28TAV%29_320kbps
https://www.facebook.com/tavsingh
Swan Lake Dub
DuBoLoGy
http://angeldustrecords.com/home/?page_id=467
Glass and Skin
Crimson Death vs Pixieguts
http://pixieguts.bandcamp.com/track/glass-and-skin

Beware the ninja! Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 59

2011-08-12T22:42:00.000+01:00

Episode 59 of the Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast is a samurai and ninja special.

You can find it here:

MixCloud

iTunes

Libsyn

Tracks

Way of the Samurai
Gary Samurai
http://garysamurai.bandcamp.com/album/the-way-of-the-samurai
Shinobi
Bushido Blade
http://bushidoblade.bandcamp.com/album/bushido-blade
Shinobi
Ghettoblondie
http://soundcloud.com/ghettoblondie
Shinobi
David Legion
http://soundcloud.com/davidlegion
Hiki - Sadako
Shinobi Klan
http://shinobiklan.bandcamp.com/track/hiki-sadako
Bushido
Stephen Kachinsky
http://steffenkachinsky.bandcamp.com/track/bushido
The Revenge of Shinobi
Bushido Blade
http://bushidoblade.bandcamp.com/album/bushido-blade
Giant Ninja Robots Theme
Giant Ninja Robots
http://giantninjarobots.bandcamp.com/
Dojo
Robot Ronin
http://robotronin.bandcamp.com/album/robot-ronin
The Cyber Shinobi
Bushido Blade
http://bushidoblade.bandcamp.com/album/bushido-blade
Ninja
Mythical Legends
http://mythicallegends.bandcamp.com/track/ninja
A ninja talks about podcasting
The Last Ninja
Azop Corp
http://soundcloud.com/azop-corp
Very Last Ninja
Mini Melodies
http://minimelodies.bandcamp.com/track/very-last-ninja

Stand

2011-08-12T10:30:00.002+01:00

H2Z#6… Stand… is the sixth episode of The Hip Hop Zone podcast. H2Z is one of the podcasts from Pete Cogle's Podcast Factory and is well worth investigating, even if you think you don't like hip hop. Don't think it's got anything to do with mainstream gangsta bollocks, bitches and hoes, bullshit and bling rap - this is more often interesting, funky, intriguing instrumental grooves from artists you'll never have heard of but should have. If there are raps, they're more likely to be intelligent and actually have something to say. Tunes are from all around the world, too - the American hip hop hegemony does not rule here!

Full details HERE
Direct download HERE

Tracks

Apathetic - Burning Bright
RKZ - Manintheattic
Advertise - Jimmy The Fingers
Dub In England - HighMas
I Who Have Nothing - Skripnik & Phonsen
Lost Hours - Anitek
Standing Firm in Taiwan (Lata Refix) - Kou Chou Ching/Bounty Killer/Lata
Oasis Of Rhythm - Project Divinity

London riots and the music industry

2011-08-09T14:28:00.003+01:00

I live in Croydon, large areas of which were devastated by riots yesterday. When I say riots, I mean vandalism and looting on a large scale by uneducated thick-as-a-ditch morons.

It happened all over London and in other parts of the UK too. People lost businesses and their homes. I wish nothing but bad upon the selfish chav scum rioters.

Many independent record labels lost all their stock in a fire at a distribution warehouse in north London. A building in Enfield, owned by Sony DADC and holding stock for distributors The Pias Group, was burned to the ground. Pias is the UK's largest independent sales, marketing and distribution company.

Beggars Banquet Group chairman Martin Mills confirmed his group had stock at the site, but told Music Week that he and other larger labels would be less affected by the disaster than smaller counterparts because they carried stock in other locations. Nevertheless, he called the latest setback for the indie sector 'horrible, horrible' and added that many labels would also now face manufacturing issues to replenish destroyed stock.

A statement from Pias says: 'There was a fire last night at the SonyDADC warehouse which services the physical distribution for Pias in the UK and Ireland. Pias is working closely with SonyDADC who are implementing their emergency plans. Pias's UK offices in London and all other areas of our business are unaffected. More information will be communicated shortly to all our labels and partners.'

Several smaller labels aren't covered by insurance for events like this and it could lead to their inability to carry on trading.

MIA apparently tweeted: im going down to the riots to hand out tea and mars bars #london, provoking anger from many of her followers before the comment subsequently appeared to be taken down from her Twitter account. What an idiot.I'm very disappointed in her - I thought she was more intelligent than that.

This is a tragedy for many people as I said and the fact that it will also probably kill several small record labels just adds to the pain of it all.

The full list of labels distributed by Pias is as follows:

1234
2020 Vision
Accidental
Ad Altiora
Adventures Close to home
Alberts
All City
Alt Delete
Ambush Reality
Angular
Ark
ATC
Atic
Atlantic Jaxx
Azuli
B Unique
Backyard
Bad Sneakers
Bandstock
Beggars Banquet
Big Chill
Big Dada
Big Life / Nul / Sindy Stroker
Boombox
Border Community
Boysnoize
Brille
Bronzerat
Brownswood
Buzzin Fly
Can You Feel It
Catskills
ChannelFly
Chemikal Underground
City Rockers
Counter
D Cypher
Dance To The Radio
Deceptive
Def Jux
Dirtee Stank
Divine Comedy
Domino
Drag City
Drive Thru
Drowned in Sound
Duophonic
Eat Sleep / Sorepoint
Electric Toaster
Emfire
F. Comm
Fabric
Faith And Hope
Fantastic Plastic
Fargo
FatCat
Feraltone
Finders Keepers / Twisted Nerve
Fingerlickin'
Flock
Free Range
From The Basement
Full Time Hobby
Goldsoul
Gronland
Groove Attack
Halftime
Hassle
Heron
Hum&Haw;Independiente
Info UK
Join Us
Kartel
Kensaltown
Kitsune
Kompakt
Laughing Stock
Leftroom
Lex
Lo Max
Loose
Love Box
Lowlife
Lucky Number
Marquis Cha Cha
Memphis Industry
Merok
Metroline
Mute
Naïve
Nation
Navigator
New World
Ninja Tune
Nuclear Blast
One Little Indian
Output / People in the Sky / Process
Pale Blue
Palm
Peacefrog
PIAS Recordings
PIP 555 Productions
Play To Work
Powerhouse (T2)
Propaganda / Ho Hum
Raw Canvas
Red Grape
Red Telephone Box
Rekids
Renaissance
Respect Productions (PES digital)
Reveal Records
RMG
Rock Action
Roots
Rough Trade
Rough Trade Comps
Rubyworks
Ruffa Lane
Search And Destroy
Secret Sundaze
Secretly Canadian / Jagjaguwar / Dead Oceans
Sell Yourself
Setanta
Shatterproof
Sideone Dummy
Slam Dunk
Smalltown
Soma
Something In Construction
Sonar Kollectiv
Soul Jazz
Southern Fried
Stranded Soldier
Subliminal
Sunday Best
TARGO
Taste
Ten Worlds
Thrill Jockey
Total Fitness
Touch And Go
Track And Field
TriTone
Trouble
Try Harder
Turk
Turnstile
Twenty 20
Underworld
Union Square
Urban Torque
Vagrant
Vice
Victory
Wagram
Wall Of Sound
Warp
Wi45
Wonky Atlas
Word And Sound
Xtra Mile
You Are Here

West of Eden - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 58

2011-08-06T08:56:00.003+01:00

We're being quite prolific with our podcasts right now - but that's because we're finding so much excellent music that you need to hear! Here's episode 58, West of Eden, which doesn't include our tune, West of Eden.

West of Eden - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 58 is available from:

Tracks

Crystalline (An-ten-nae Remix)
Bjork
http://soundowl.com/track/18b8/bjrk-crystalline-an-ten-nae-remix
Archaeopteryx
Beytah
http://soundcloud.com/beytah/beytah-archaeopteryx
http://circuitryaudio.com/index.php/Releases
Bombay Calling
Cuthead
http://soundcloud.com/koksnutte/cuthead-bombay-calling
http://www.last.fm/music/Cuthead/Murdoc
Prodding the Bellies of the Obese
Harperactive
http://harperactive.blogspot.com
Summer Lightning
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Bomb Ar Dub
Knobz
http://www.discogs.com/Various-Dub-Echoes/release/632126
A Graviton Escapes into the 11th Dimension
Pangaea
http://www.last.fm/music/Pangaea/Quantum+Mechanics+Vol.2
Raqs al Maghreb (feat Dawoud Kringle)
Celt Islam
http://celtislam.bandcamp.com/album/raqs-al-maghreb-ep
For a Princess
Veell
http://music.veell.net/album/birdsland
You May As Well Drink the Tears of a Columbian Peasant Farmer
Harperactive
http://harperactive.blogspot.com/

TDZ#105… Dub Eruption…

2011-08-05T11:10:00.002+01:00

There's a new episode of The Dub Zone podcast available now!

Details HERE
Direct download HERE

Tracks

Qassamdub - I Neurologici
Whole Lotta Dub - Jah Roots
Dubwalk - Otist Reading
Blade and Chalice - Dubmatix
Volaré - Lata
Harmony - Pablo Far-I
Silverback Riddim - Baby Arm Sound System
West Laki Dub - Bandulu Dub Meets Shaky Norman

Dust Particles - Volume One

2011-08-04T16:52:00.000+01:00

Dust Particles - Volume One is the first release from a new netlabel, Angel Dust Records, founded by legendary podcaster, Pete Cogle.

Angel Dust Records will specialise in the bass-heavy end of the musical spectrum, encompassing dub, dubstep, breakbeat, drum and bass, hip-hop and all kinds of bass-oriented electronica. Which means we'll like it!

We like it already, though, because Dust Particles - Volume One includes one of our tunes, Hunter's Moon, from our recent album Barbary Lion.

They say: Like a gathering of old friends, celebrating the birth of a new child, we bring you 6 tracks of dub and dubstep in this EP: Dust Particles - Volume One – the first release from Angel Dust Records. Comprising some of the best dub and dubstep tracks played on The Dub Zone and The Dub Step Zone podcasts this is our magnum opus: a 6-track EP of killer tunes to brighten up your day.

Tracks

Dr Remix - 60-40 Riddim
Mastermind XS - Sunny Day (Vocal Version)
Baby Arm Sound System - Hypnotic Stagger
Phonianflore - Balkanyk Dub
303db - The Beast Inside
Secret Archives of the Vatican - Hunter's Moon

We'll be writing more about Angel Dust Records and its plans very soon.

Good Medicine - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 57

2011-07-30T09:18:00.000+01:00

Yes - it's another episode of our fine podcast! Good Medicine - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 57 may be found here:

Libsyn
iTunes
MixCloud

Tracks

Death March
Rob Sparx
http://soundcloud.com/profoundaudio/rob-sparx-death-march-free
Time Shifter
Bass Tease
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005AF7166?ie=UTF8&child=B005AF71RK
Forgotten Ages
Nov-Sanus
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nov-Sanus/106996758759
http://www.psyshop.com/shop/CDs/bas/bas1cd007.html
Swords
Intergalacterrorist
http://intergalacterrorist.bandcamp.com/album/swords-and-wands
Exploiting the Return Policy
Kung Fu Lemon
http://soundcloud.com/kung-fu-lemon/kung-fu-lemon-exploiting-the
Chief Rocka (Psymbionic Remix)
Trillbass
http://soundcloud.com/psymbionic/trillbass-chief-rocka-psymbionic-remix
Nazi Zombies
Trystan Seven
http://trystanseven.com/track/nazi-zombies
Who followed you into the Desert?/the disturbing Geometry of the new Mirage/Fortresses and Minarets
Andrew Havens
http://soundcloud.com/andrew-havens/who-followed-you-into-the-desert-the-disturbing-geometry-of-the-new-mirage-fortresses-and-minarets

Two great podcasts

2011-07-29T09:28:00.000+01:00

Two great podcasts have featured tracks by Secret Archives of the Vatican this week:

DSZ#39… Dub Complex…
Pete Cogle's mighty Dub Step Zone podcast features Summer Lightening.
DC 479 Jurassic Blowjob
Rowley Cutler's mighty Dark Compass podcast features Radagast in the East.

Both tracks are from our album Barbary Lion which you can find HERE. It's available on a name-your-own-price basis and can be free if you don't want to pay.

Don't be fooled by mp3PRO

2011-07-25T10:41:00.003+01:00

It's long been known that the old record industry cynically resold back catalogue to music fans each time a new format came along. Why invest in developing new artists when you could resell Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Elvis?

Digital media arrived and started a revolution. Initially CDs were simply the latest medium with which to resell old music to the public. When recordable digital media arrived in the public domain the music industry freaked out.

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) was capable of recording at above CD sound quality. The record labels simply said they would never release anything in the format because they didn't want people having the ability to accurately copy CDs. No releases meant no market for player/recorders. DAT rapidly became a format for recording studios only.

At the same time, there was a conceptual battle happening among music listeners. Did they want awesome sound quality or portability?

DVD Audio, which contained uncompressed, full surround, 24 bit, full bandwidth audio, lasted about a week. It was the nearest the public will ever get to the sound heard in a recording studio. The 5.1 audio on DVD films is 24 bit but has gone through some data compression. The stereo track is usually better, 24 uncompressed, but it's only stereo.

The public voted for portability. The arrival of mp3 and, shortly thereafter, broadband Internet, killed decent audio for the general public. We chose crap but portable. The age of the mp3 was upon us.

We get used to crap. Every so often, I play a CD through my hifi or in my recording studio of some music I've been listening to in 320kbps format in my phone. I am always staggered by how much is missing from the mp3s. Sounds fine at the time - but go play the CD! There is no comparison.

Well, we're about to be sold another pile of cack called mp3PRO. The name implies that it's better than mp3, doesn' t it? Basically, someone has come up with a way to make lower bit rate mp3s (lower than 128 kbps), which usually sound appalling, sound a bit better.

The reason that mp3s at these lower bit rates sound shit is that they run out of bits to compress the music in full audio bandwidth and with significant detail. The developers of mp3 had to decide whether their codec should produce mp3 music with distortion (coding artefacts) or with limited bandwidth. They opted for limited bandwidth. As a result, you experience lower bit rate mp3 as band-limited music with relatively little perceived distortion. All very clever.

To improve the sound quality of mp3 at lower bit rates, Coding Technologies has developed an enhancement technology that gives back to the sound the high frequency components. The technology is called 'Spectral Band Replication' (SBR). SBR is a very efficient method to generate the high frequency components of an audio signal.

Combining mp3 with the SBR enhancement technology generates an audio signal with high bandwidth at low bit rates. Mp3PRO is composed out of two components, the mp3 part for the low frequencies and the SBR or 'PRO' part for the high frequencies. Since the 'PRO' part requires only a few kbps, the format is still compatible with the original mp3 format. This fact allows existing mp3 players to play mp3PRO files. They simply ignore the PRO part.

So - don't be fooled into thinking mp3PRO is somehow better than mp3 or is a later, higher quality, version. No, it's a way to make poorer quality mp3s sound better. The files end up about half the size of an average quality mp3.

This new combined format will be a temporary stop gap until the mobile-player manufacturers start trying to out-do each other withproper, full quality audio downloads. With memory capacity and available bandwidth growing constantly and the advent of 'cloud' libraries, there is no reason (other than bloody-minded obstruction by the few remaining big record companies) for music not to be distributed in 24 bit WAV quality or even better multi-channel surround formats.

Bury My Heart - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 56

2011-07-23T14:11:00.002+01:00

Here's another episode of our most excellent podcast!

Bury My Heart - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 56 is available from:

iTunes
Libsyn
MixCloud

Tracks

Al Khider (The Green Man)
Celt Islam
http://soundcloud.com/celt-islam/al-khider-the-green-man-by
Rewolucja w Nas (Celt Islam Sufi Dub)
Masala
http://soundcloud.com/masalasound/rewolucja-w-nas-celt-islam-dub
Lhassa (Barbes D Remix)
Mahom
http://odgprod.com/wp/2011/05/mahom-underground-dubwise/
Nectar (Psymbionic Remix)
Sub Swara
http://soundcloud.com/takohandz/sub-swara-nectar-psymbionic
Dub Arab
Narageza
http://soundcloud.com/narageza/dub-arab
Egyptian Dub
Baby Beans
http://djpark.bandcamp.com/track/egyptian-dub
Prophets and Warriors
Thousand Yard Prayer
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Sallah Adin
Moskauer Bluthund
http://moskauerbluthund.bandcamp.com/track/sallah-adin
Caged Lion - Dubstep Remix
Cosmosis and D3viant
http://cosmosis.bandcamp.com/track/caged-lion-dubstep-remix

How do we market our new album? Part 6

2011-07-17T10:03:00.000+01:00

Barbary Lion has now been out for about three weeks. Downloads are in triple figures and about one in seven downloaders is choosing to pay. Most seem to be paying about $5, which is roughly what we would have expected to receive from a sale of a CD through a shop back in the days of physical product.

As well as using Bandcamp as our main outlet, we use a company called Tunecore to place the album on the commercial download sites. It takes a variable amount of time to show up on the sites, for example, iTunes was very quick indeed, Spotify and Napster were pretty quick and we're still waiting for it to show up on Amazon US or Amazon UK.

iTunes gets a lot of stick but they do pay one of the best rates back to the artists.

We've not much in the way of reviews yet, just one on the Netlabelism site by well-known podcaster Pete Cogle and one on a Hungarian site. We're starting to have tunes played on podcasts, though, which is great. The podcasters and their listeners are enthusiastic music fans so we know the tunes will be listened to - people don't tend to use podcasts as mere background like they do with broadcast radio.

So, some positive progress!

How do we market our new album? Part 5
How do we market our new album? Part 4
How do we market our new album? Part 3
How do we market our new album? Part 2
How do we market our new album? Part 1

Sacred Place - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 55

2011-07-17T09:24:00.000+01:00

Sacred Place - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 55 is now available from:

Libsyn

iTunes

MixCloud

Tracks

Middle Ground
Stantz
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Stantz/195093143863983?sk=wall
Desert Heat
Cern and Nymfo
https://www.facebook.com/DispatchRecordings?ref=ts
Pyramid Climbing
Benito
https://www.facebook.com/BenitoBeats
Follow That Camel
Eat Static
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eat-Static/19615493659
Ravens Will Feed You
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Mehraab
Loga Ramin Torkian
http://soundcloud.com/mehraab
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Loga-Ramin-Torkian/142210229156952
Pantheon of Abscence
Audiovoid
http://www.addictech.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=76775
Somniloquy
Alexis K
http://soundcloud.com/alexisk/alexis-k-somniloquy-high-chai

Barbary Lion review - in Hungarian.....

2011-07-14T21:52:00.000+01:00

We found this review of Secret Archives of the Vatican's recent release, Barbary Lion, on a Hungarian blog HERE.

A Secret Archives Of The Vatican zenekar valójában London híres-neves Croydon kerületébe való, ráadásul az ezáltal szinte kötelező dubstepes hatást keleti: arab és indiai zenével keveri. Kemény dobok, röfögő basszusok, valamint tabla, szitár, lant, vonósok hallhatók a Barbary Lion című új, innen letölthető lemezükön. A magát "transglobal breakbeat dub science" stílusba soroló zenekar nem is akarja letagadni, hogy hatottak rá a kilencvenes évek keleti+elektronikus zene fúziói, de attól még érdemes meghallgatni, így például kifejezetten szellemes a tabla, a breakbeat és a dubstep-basszus összjátéka. Az album második fele eldowntempósodik és le is ül egy kicsit, de még így is ajánlott, pláne, hogy ingyen is a miénk lehet, ha a mennyit fizetsz? kérdésre 0-t válaszolunk. (A Secret Archives Of Vatican is blogol arról, hogy hogyan próbálják terjeszteni lemezük hírét az interneten.)

The very wonderful Google Translate, translates it thus:

The Vatican Secret Archives Of The London band really famous districts of Croydon, in addition to the must-order effect dubstepes East: Arabic and Indian music mixes. Hard drums, bass and grunt, and tabla, sitar, lute, strings can be heard in the Barbary Lion's new album can be downloaded from here. In his "trans global breakbeat dub science" style classifying band does not want to deny that influenced him in the nineties east + electronic music mergers, but it's worth listening, such as specially wit the tabla, breakbeat and dubstep, bass interplay. The album's second half eldowntempósodik and you can sit a bit, but it is still recommended, especially to ours can be free even if you pay how much? 0-t answer your question. (Secret Archives Of The Vatican is also blogging about how to try to spread word about the album online.)

Ravens Will Feed You - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 54

2011-07-09T17:20:00.000+01:00

Ravens Will Feed You - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 54 is now available to download from:

Libsyn
iTunes
MixCloud

Tracks

One Inch Punch
Sudanim
http://sudanim.bandcamp.com/
When Acting as a Squarewave
Desiseq
http://hopskotch.bandcamp.com/album/adrenochrome
Hunter's Moon
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Kush
Lokrian and Fish Finger
http://soundcloud.com/crossroadsrecordsmusic/lokrian-fish-finger-kush-free
The Destroyer of Worlds feat. Sick Since
Amos the Ancient Prophet
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=726340
Curse of the Cleric feat. IDE
Akashik Ancestorz
http://hiphopisdream.com/akashik-ancestorz-the-ancient-art-of-facts/
The Judgment
IFA
http://www.facebook.com/pages/IFA-DUBSTEP/190075597705642
Laughing Buddha (Sub Swara Remix)
Delhi2Dublin
http://www.myspace.com/delhi2dublin/music/songs/laughing-buddha-sub-swara-remix-81297543
Surah Yasin (Mexicans with Guns remix)
Aaron Pena
http://exponential.bandcamp.com/album/remixican
The Nature of Dying
Goreshit
http://www.goreshit.com/

Our new album!

2011-06-24T21:55:00.002+01:00

Barbary Lion by Secret Archives of the Vatican

Thawra: Youth & Hip Hop in the Arab World

2011-06-16T18:37:00.000+01:00

My thanks to Andy Kisaragi over at Untimely Sound for drawing my attention to this.

He says:
Documentary in the form of a mixtape, tracing the roots of some of the big players in the Arab hip hop world and how they and their music relate to - and in cases were catalysts of - the revolutionary goings on in the region earlier this year, how the lyrics move from the satirical to the serious as things become increasingly real. Really interesting stuff, the music itself is a mixed bag to be fair, but there are some wicked tunes on there from the likes of Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, El General and more.

Nomadix Wax says:
Over the past few months Nomadic Wax has been reaching out to Arab hip hop artists around the world. We wanted to hear directly from them how hip hop was affecting the Arab uprisings and how the momentous events that were sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East were inspiring them to write music. The Nomadic Wax team, made up of DJ Magee, DJ Nio, and British journalist Rose Hackman bring you an original mix of in-depth reporting and authentic Arab and Arab-American sounds and perspectives, giving you the story behind the music - or rather the music behind the story.

Thawra: Youth & Hip Hop in the Arab World [Special News Piece] by Nomadic Wax

Link: http://nomadicwax.bandcamp.com/track/thawra-youth-hip-hop-in-the-arab-world-special-news-piece

Chariot of Ascension - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 51

2011-06-12T10:30:00.000+01:00

Episode 51 of the Secret Archives of the Vatican podcast is now available. As ever, there's an eclectic mix of tunes, this time mostly with a transnational dubstep and hiphop feel. There are two tunes from Secret Archives of the Vatican's forthcoming album, Barbary Lion.

You can find the podcast here:

Libsyn

iTunes

MixCloud

Tracks

Everyday (Netsky remix)
Rusko
http://soundcloud.com/rusko-3/rusko-everyday-netsky-remix
Red Fuji
Davwuh
http://davwuh.bandcamp.com/
Secret Identity
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Goat Ropes
Thriftworks
http://jatlas.bandcamp.com/
Thrombus (Revolutionari) feat. Caballo
FLeCK
http://soundcloud.com/caballo/fleck-caballo-thrombus
Turret Error
Ephixa
http://soundcloud.com/ephixa
Merkabah, Chariot of Ascension
DProsper
http://dprosper.bandcamp.com/track/merkabah-chariot-of-ascension
Black Dust
Mandeep Sethi
http://mandeepsethi.bandcamp.com/
The Empty Quarter
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
House of Iyi
Davwuh
http://davwuh.bandcamp.com/
India Joya (DnB Remix)
Vandera
http://soundcloud.com/vandera-175/india-joya-175-mix
Raga
Meier und Erdmann
http://soundcloud.com/meierunderdmann/

And the night shall be filled with music,
And the cares that infest the day
Shall fold their tents like the Arabs
And as silently steal away.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow -The Day Is Done

Veiled Beauty, Dark Magic - video

2011-06-05T09:43:00.001+01:00

Here's a video I put together for Secret Archives of the Vatican's tune Veiled Beauty, Dark Magic, which will be on our forthcoming album release, Barbary Lion. Clearly, I've used a whole bunch of other people's copyrighted material, so if any copyright holder objects, we'll remove the video. Watch it while you can!

PCP#352... International Podcrawling! ...

2011-05-28T21:52:00.000+01:00

International Podcrawling! is the title of the latest PC Podcast and this episode features your first chance to hear a track from Secret Archives of the Vatican's forthcoming album, Barbary Lion. The tune is an Eastern-inflected drumstep bass-fest called Veiled Beauty, Dark Magic.

Full details of the podcast are HERE.
Direct download HERE.

Cunning Fox - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 49

2011-05-08T14:18:00.001+01:00

Episode 49 of our most excellent and eclectic podcast is now available for download or streaming from:

Libsyn

iTunes

MixCloud

Tracks

Farmer Suicide
Saint Soldier
http://saintsoldier.bandcamp.com/track/farmer-suicide
Dread Commandments
Radikal Guru
http://soundcloud.com/radikal-guru
Bombay Sapphire
Kumarachi
http://soundcloud.com/kumarachi/bombay-saphire
Holy Mount Zion (feat. Steve Steppa)
Ackboo
http://www.fresh-poulp.net/releases/fpr057/
Black Sand
Drydeck
http://www.fresh-poulp.net/releases/fpr057/
Beauty Beats
Beats Antique
http://beatsantique.bandcamp.com/
Jah Come Down remix
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars (Featuring DJ Logic)
http://sierraleonesrefugeeallstars.bandcamp.com/album/rise-shine-remixes
Cunning Fox
Arab Kadabrah
http://soundcloud.com/seeno/arab-kadabrah-cunning-fox
Powder of Ibn Ghazi
S_Dij
http://soundcloud.com/s_dij/powder-of-ibn-ghazi
Rabbit Hole
TaranChilla Feat. Alicia Hasler
http://soundcloud.com/taranchilla/rabbit-hole-taranchilla-ft
Elenin
Catharsis
http://soundcloud.com/lifestylerecordings/catharsis-elenin

Dub Tentacles Volume 3

2011-05-02T21:53:00.002+01:00

Dub Tentacles Volume 3, released 2 May on French netlabel Fresh Poulp, features 13 artists from Malta, Italy, UK, Poland, Canada, Croatia and France. The tunes dip into dark dub, dubstep, electro dub and more. It includes one of our tunes, Friendly Artificial Intelligence, which we won't be releasing anywhere else.

Get it HERE.

Drydeck – Black Sand
Waitapu – Truckin’
Secret Archives of the Vatican – Friendly Artificial Intelligence
Mind’s Eye Dub – Don Dub
Ackboo – Holy Mount Zion (feat. Steve Steppa)
Mahom – Darker, Stronger, Dubber
A Man Called PJ – Dubalalla
Injham – Babylon Lamb
Sushidread – Rise
Nomatx Bass Drive – Western
Early Worm – My Girl Clone
Jah Billah meets Pupa Congo – In Ruff A Dubb
Roots Revival Soundsystem – Praises

The Edge of Day...

2011-04-30T09:11:00.000+01:00

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 48 - The Edge of Day is now available from:

Libsyn

iTunes

MixCloud

Tracks

Evolve or Die feat. Destiny Lab
Amos the Ancient Prophet
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=726340
Friendly Artificial Intelligence
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Fist of Fury
Liquid Stranger
http://globalnoize.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/dimmsummer-presents-subcontinentalbass/
Zawiyya
Celt Islam
http://urbansedatedrecords.bandcamp.com/
Mehman (The Guest)
Azam Ali
http://www.azamalimusic.com/main.php
Arabian Trials
Tribal Spectrum
http://tribalspectrum.bandcamp.com/track/arabian-trials
My Way
Retrotation
http://soundcloud.com/retrotation/myway
Arabian Loop
Dafu
http://dafu.bandcamp.com/track/arabian-loop
Bilady
Deeb
http://deeb.bandcamp.com/album/cairofornia-ep
In my Heart
Nucleya
http://globalnoize.wordpress.com/2011/04/07/dimmsummer-presents-subcontinentalbass/

In the jungle of dub...

2011-04-30T08:47:00.000+01:00

Podcasting legend Mr Pete Cogle has released episode 98 of The Dub Zone podcast.

You can find full details of TDZ#98 HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Rightfull Ruler - Rolling Lion Studio (Manwel T Mix)
Signos Vitales - DubRifles
Dub On Struggle - Dadub
30 Head - Fed
Burn Out The Rich (Feat. Kulcha Ites) - Dubmatix
Disco Dub - Pama International
The Follower (Feat. Live Full Power) - R-DUG
From The Sea - Dubsalon

Boom!

2011-04-22T09:16:00.000+01:00

There's a new episode available of Pete Cogle's Hip Hop Zone podcast.

You can find full details of H2Z HERE

Direct download is HERE

Tracks

Mr Universe - Mos Dub
You Disconnect - DJ Code
Echo Boomers - Texture
Beaumont is Alive - Dr Kananga
Was Fuer Eine Welt (What A World) - Slomo (Zengineers remix feat. Backwater Planet)
Lazy Summer - Hypoetical
Spalony Lennon - Szubrawy Kot
Back At It - Anitek

Poetry is the backbone of the Arab language

2011-04-22T09:00:00.000+01:00

Recently we blogged a few times about Iraqi-Canadian hiphop artist The Narcicyst and various projects he's been involved with; we've also written about the North African revolutions and hiphop's connections with changes occurring in the region. One of The Narcicyst's collaborators is Syrian-American rapper Omar Offendum. He was the catalyst for the song #Jan25, a collaboration by international rappers inspired by the protests in Egypt. You can see the video for it HERE.

Here is a link to an interview he gave to The European:

Poetry is the Backbone of the Arab Language

Secret Archives of the Vatican Video Podcast 4 -Record shops. mp3s and art

2011-04-19T10:18:00.000+01:00

Secret Archives of the Vatican Video Podcast 4 - record shops, mp3s and art

Members of Secret Archives of the Vatican talking about record shops. mp3s and art...

Al Jisr Hip Hop Mixtape 'Bridging Cultures' Part II

2011-04-16T22:55:00.000+01:00

Here in the Secret Archives, we like Arabic hip hop. Heard about Lebanese artist DJ Lethal Skillz through Iraq-Canadian rapper The Narcicyst.

Lethal Skillz has just released the second volume of an open-ended series of transnational mixtapes.

It's called:
RE-VOLT & PhonoSapien Productionz Present:AL Jisr Hip Hop Mixtape 'Bridging Cultures' Part II

You can find full details HERE and there's a link to download the mix.

Sunset Dub...

2011-04-15T11:47:00.002+01:00

There's a reason why we always post a blog entry when The Dub Zone podcast releases another episode....they're excellent! Here's more rootsical itality in TDZ#97...

Full details HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Sunset Riddim - Steenkoud
Inna Eden Dub - Dubmatix
Give Dub - Ras Cricket meets The Black Seeds
Planets in Heaven - Weight and Treble
Who Knew (Lofi Dirty) - Trickstar
Some One (Dub Mix) - Mackadub (feat. Unojah II)
Nubian Dub Kings - The Dub OracleMassive Dub
Job (Rubber Mix) - Dub One!

Diatribes of a Dying Tribe - review

2011-04-12T20:57:00.001+01:00

If you read this blog regularly, and if you listen to our podcast (you do, don't you?), you'll know we are fans of Arab-Canadian rapper, Yassin Alsalman, aka The Narcicyst.

I posted a short video here last month of an interview with The Narcicyst, where he talks about a book he has just published, The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe.

The Narcicyst's website, iraqisthebomb.com, says this:

The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe is about the jumbled reality of North American life. The destructive components of juxtaposing cultures, the birth of immigrant internationality and the resilient art that comes out of struggle and oppression.

It is the story of four young Arab men who joined forces to create their own representative governing meeting. Excentrik, Ragtop, Omar Offendum & The Narcicyst spent two weeks in California and endless hours on a computer crafting the Fear of an Arab Planet; an examination of the heightened anxiety towards Islam, the Oriental gaze towards the Arab face and the ever-growing paranoia of the ‘other’, all over some bangin’ beats to rock to. As a post-analytical view of the making of an album, this book serves as a document on the burgeoning Arab poetry scene, and how the two mother cultures of a migrant society coalesced through a modern hyper-culture called Hip-Hop. From TSA agents to ABC rappers, The Arab Summit were on a mission to be heard… and that is exactly what happened.

The book is short, less than 130 pages long, and includes essays by Omar Offendum, Ragtop and Excentrik as well as Yassin Alsalman himself. There are also brief interviews with Cilvaringz, Malikah, Eslaam Jawaad, as well as members of AK, DAM and Soul Purpose.

The main writers' styles are different, from the conceptual, dense verbiage of The Narcicyst, to the more accessible styles of Nizar 'Ragtop' Wattad, Omar 'Omar Offendum' Chakaki and the analytical flow of Tarik 'Excentrik' Kazaleh. They talk about the contradictions of being of varied Arab origins, living and being creative in pre- and post-9/11 North America. They describe the processes of developing and adapting self-identity in a changing and often hostile culture. They speak of how hiphop gave them a voice, a way to express anger, pride, faith, self-awareness and resistance. We read about how they met each other and how they started a recording project, The Arab Summit, that released an album in 2007, Fear of an Arab Planet.

The book finishes with excerpts from round-table email discussions with a wide range of hip hop artists, including: Eslam Jawad (Arap/London-Lebanon), Rush (Arabian Knights/Egypt), Mazzi (Soul Purpose/Iran), Lethal Skills (961 Underground/Lebanon) and more. Their experiences of being rappers and producers vary a lot - it's a very interesting and inspiring read.

Diatribes of a Dying Tribe is fully referenced, literary sources as well as the music mentioned in the text (had me running to dig out old school hip hop albums from NWA and Wu Tang to hear what these guys heard when they answered hip hop's call).

You should buy it.

Buy the book, download Fear of an Arab Planet (free!), read the blog, watch videos HERE.

It takes a nation of 2 million to hold us back Volume 1

2011-04-12T19:02:00.003+01:00

A couple of years back a new blog, dedicated to all the bass driven musical genres we like, was born - Generation Bass - and our friends over there have this week celebrated their 2,000,000th visitor. It's going to take a bit longer before we get those kind of numbers here.... :(

To celebrate, they're releasing three free downloadable albums – exclusives, previews and remixes by the likes of Diamond Bass, Kush Arora, Shalakazoo, Celt Islam and many many more.

The first one is: It Takes a nation of 2 Million To Hold us Back Volume 1

It's available to download from here:

Tracks

Krsur – Starlights
Boyfriend ft Offkey Rolex – High Rise Horizons
Diamond Bass & Mfana – Mumboa
Andy Kisaragi – Spunn (oh yeah)
Amplifier – Barbarix remix
Bert on beats – Bullet Skank
Anthony B & Subatomic Sound – Dem can’t stop we from Talk
Paul Oakenfold – Southern Sun (FLeCK & Eski remake)
Dj Delay – Gypsytronic
Laura Marling – Speak because I can (EEE Remix)
George Lenton – Imd
Edu K – Me Bota Pra Dancar (Motorpitch edit)
Mexican Dubweiser – Hacienda
Tinie Tempah & Ellie Goulding – Wonder Man (Bandish Projekt mix)
ArtCade – Good Bad Girl

The Mother of Exile: From Night to the Edge of Day

2011-04-11T20:02:00.000+01:00

'I discovered that lullabies are so much more than just musical and rhythmic tools to soothe a child. They are in fact a powerful medium by which a mother can send direct messages to her child about life, nature, joy, pain, love, beauty, etc.'

I own a lot of recorded music and I hear a lot of music on top of that. There's music I like and music I like a lot. Different types of music, different albums, have different purposes; some are to fill up the silence while you focus on some work or study, some are for celebration and dancing, some are for quiet chilling. Some are to make you feel in touch with the cutting edge of our culture and we pretend to like them, even if we don't really. You'll know if you have those by how many times you've consciously chosen them in the last year!

There have been a handful of albums over the years that, for me, somehow fly high above all of that. There's a quality of musicianship that puts them in a different class but also they touch something beyond the mere carnal, beyond shallow surface emotion. The Lost Souls by Niraj Chag, or Digital Prophecy by Dhafer Youssef are in this category for me. Sublime, spiritual, transcendent.

Well, another one's just come along. From Night to the Edge of Day is the latest release from Iranian American singer, Azam Ali. I've been a fan for a few years, having heard her work in various projects including on some stunning albums from the band Niyaz. This new album is essentially a collection of lullabies from across the Middle East - Iranian, Turkish, Lebanese, and Kurdish, mostly traditional but including one (Faith) written spontaneously by Palestinian oud player, Naser Musa, for Azam Ali's son after discussing the project with her.

The project grew organically, in response to the birth of her son; she sang to him spontaneously on the night he was born and the melody eventually became the song Tenderness. Other songs evolved from Farsi texts of traditional lyrics brought by friends, and classic favourite lullabies from across the region.

____________________________________________________________________________

'To do this project, I worked with Kurds, Azeris, a Palestinian Christian, Iranians from all over,' recounts Ali. 'You could write a book about each one of them, about their difficulties in life and their diaspora. It was a profound experience for me as person.' Despite oppression, war, and exile, Ali heard 'hope and the belief that good will always come out in the end' in the traditional songs and in the musical contributions of her friends.
_____________________________________________________________________________

The album opens with Noor (The Light in my Eyes), a drone and a beautiful Eastern-inflected melody with some subtle harmonising lines. It reminds me of European plainchant, otherwordly, ethereal. The second track, Dandini, a Turkish traditional tune, features a frame drum and some distant, elusive instruments playing behind a very filmic vocal melody. Nami Nami follows, with some beautiful microtonal violin improvisation, before being joined by a goblet drum and an ensemble of other instruments. Once again, I'm struck by the similarity in feel to pre-classical European music. I absolutely love this tune. Neni Desem follows, a rarely heard Turkish traditional lullaby and then Shirin (or Shrin, depending on which part of the cover art you're reading...), a song from the Azeris of Iran. Once again, it is reminiscent of an Elizabethan courtly dance tune and the tempo picks up slightly from previous tunes. Azam Ali has deliberately chosen songs from minorities in the region as a way to call for peace and an end to conflict. Mehman (The Guest) is based on the aforementioned Farsi texts, gorgeous strings slowly swelling over a drone, the vocal remaining delicate as it explores a beautiful melodic mode, evocatively Eastern, before fading to the drone once more for the ending. Then we're into the bouncy and Arabic-flavoured Faith. Azam Ali duets with composer Naser Musa on this superb tune. Tenderness, Ali's own tune, follows, multitracked voices building layers of atmosphere over a drone; not sure why but this actually reminds me of the good bits of Clannad from back in the day. Lai Lai comes from the Iraqi Kurdish community and features the beautifully played frame drums featured on many of the tracks on this album. It's a short tune, followed by the last and shortest song on on the album, Faith (Reprise). In this reprise, the oud is more upfront in the mix and once again we hear Naser Musa's voice interweaving with Azam Ali's as the song slowly fades to silence and the end of the album.

This album is genuinely beautiful, peace-filled and exquisitely performed. Sublime, spiritual, transcendent.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Six Degrees Records

Poulp It Up!

2011-04-10T20:50:00.000+01:00

PCP#346... Poulp It Up! ...

European podcaster of the year 2010, Pete Cogle, has released a special edition of the PC Podcast focusing on one of our favourite French netlabels, Fresh Poulp.

You can find details of PCP#346 HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Dub Destroyer

2011-04-08T13:53:00.002+01:00

DSZ#35... Dub Destroyer... is the latest basswobbletastic episode of podmeister Pete Cogle's Dub Step Zone podcast.

Full details HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Instinct - Zoom
MySkye (Original Mix) - GoldRush
Daywalker - Narky
Chicago - J Courage
Backyard Prophet - Photophob
I Can Feel You Now - Hand Of Buddha
Sistematico - Dessben
Petdestroyer - Mochipet

Fareeq El Atrash - Lawein & Ba'ed Min Hon

2011-04-05T18:30:00.000+01:00

We like Arabic language hiphop. Here's two tunes in one from Beirut.

They say:
Two songs in one video clip from Fareeq El Atrash's debut album Fareeq El Atrash

As a decade elapses from the 21st century and we look back to a very well documented 20th century, we take a moment to reflect on the events that have marked Lebanon, the Middle East, and the World. Fareeq El Atrash take us on a journey to remember a century of eccentric art and fashion, wars and dictators, actors and musicians...

Times have changed; the players have changed (most of them at least); however the events and the themes are recurrent.

أغنيتين في فيديو كليب واحد لفريق الاطرش

فريق الاطرش يأخذنا في رحلة لنتذكر قرن من الفن والأزياء، من الحروب والحكام المستبدين ، من الممثلين والموسيقيين والمشاهير...لقد تغير الزمن، وتغيرت الوجوه (معظمها على الأقل)، إلا أن الأحداث والمواضيع تتكرر.

Muslimgauze: Chasing the Shadow of Bryn Jones

2011-04-03T16:31:00.000+01:00

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know we’re fans of the late Bryn Jones, aka Muslimgauze. Here’s an interview with him that I came across today.

The Narcicyst - Brass

2011-04-03T08:59:00.000+01:00

We like The Narcicyst....here's a new video.

Cairo Rising Music Project

2011-03-31T20:29:00.002+01:00

We are huge fans of American musician Jef Stott and we love middle-eastern music - so here are details of an amazing musical project Jef is involved with in Egypt.

A video explaining the project and details of how you can support the project are available HERE.

Jef says this:

____________________________________________________________

Cairo Rising Recording Project

We are planning on documenting the democratic protests and revolutions in the Middle East by creating a collaborative music project and a series of short documentary films. We hope to humanize the changes in the Middle East through the presentation of music and youth culture of the region.

The musical component of the project will be will be a compilation album of revolutionary Arabic fusion artists in collaboration with other Arabic musicians and American and European remixers and producers. The project will focus on young Arabic rock musicians, rappers and singer/songwriters. We seek to find musical artists who express their desire for a more just and democratic world through music and song. We plan on recording mostly in Cairo, Egypt and the project will include artists from Tunisia, Algeria and the Arabic disaspora as well.

Using mobile recording technologies, we will set up temporary recording sessions in cafes, private homes and schools to quickly capture songs and performances that express the desire for freedom in the Middle East. Once the sessions have been recorded, the files will be brought back to San Francisco for editing, arrangement and final mixing.

Once the mixes are complete, the album project will be pitched to larger cultural institutions for world wide distribution. The list of organizations we plan on contacting include: National Geographic, Peter Gabriels Real World label, Six Degrees Records, Sterns Africa, Wrass Records, etc. In the event that one of these larger organizations does not pick up the project, the Embarka Record label, owned by project founder Jef Stott, is prepared to release the project world wide.

We will also be creating an elaborate website to document the projects progress and it’s results. The site will include interviews, blogs, photos, video clips, artists biographies and music excerpts from the new recording sessions.

Additionally we will be producing a series of short films to further document the creative process and insights into the artists point of view on the current situation in the Middle East. These short films could be compiled into a longer feature length film, but that would be another project for a future date.

The project coordinator and producer will be composer/producer Jef Stott, who has been working with Arabic and Northern African musicians (as well as Turkish, Persian and Balkan artists) for many many years and has released dozens of musical projects. He holds a degree in cultural anthropology and is an accomplished Middle Eastern musician in his own right. Mr Stott will handle all recording duties, editing and final mixing of the projects musical compositions. His reputation in the world music industry will be an asset to the success of the project. He has a wide professional network of colleagues at large record labels, journalists, film producers and cultural institutions and Universities.

All profits will be shared evenly with the participating artists. All performances and artistic contributions will be documented through contracts and written agreements to ensure payment and transparency of accounting. Pre-existing songs used in the project will be non exclusive to the project allowing the artists to maintain control of there compositions. Collaborations between Arabic artists and the project producers will be co-published by both parties.

Financial contributions to the project will be used for the following:

transportation of the producer to and from Egypt
producer accommodations in Cairo for 3-4 weeks
initial contributing artist payment
recording session fees in Cairo (if any)
additional recording and editing in San Francisco
mixing fees in San Francisco

We sincerely hope that you will be able to help us with this project. It seems extremely timely and important that the artistic expression of post revolution Arabic culture is documented at this time.

Thank you in advance for your interest in the Cairo Rising project!

~Jef Stott

Musical rickshaw

2011-03-31T19:41:00.002+01:00

We've known DJ Pathaan (a little bit) for many years , since we first met him at club Stoned Asia in Brixton. Back in 2008 we featured on his late, lamented, BBC Asian Network show, providing a World Odyssey mix.

He's released many excellent compilations over the years, all of them very much to our liking.

He has a new release, a double CD in an era of downloads. He is to be congratulated for that - some of us like the option of decent sound quality as well as the option of more portable mp3s.

It's called Musical Rickshaw with Pathaan, after his old BBC show. I will review it at a later date when I have time to give it my full attention but for now, you can buy it HERE or HERE. Or probably several other places.

Muslimgaze - Zionist Juice

2011-03-29T10:07:00.001+01:00

I came across what I thought was new Muslimgauze release; despite Bryn Jones being dead for several years, Muslimgauze was so prolific that labels could be releasing 'new' material for ages, so I wasn't surprised. When I listened, though, I thought that although the musical style was similar to Muslimgauze's, it wasn't quite the same and it sounded too modern. When I looked closer I realised the artist name was MuslimGAZE, not MuslimGAUZE.

Muslimgaze is a tribute project Vampiir Of The North. He has released a free download album, Zionist Juice, on the netlabel Haunted Klinik.

He says: This album is dedicated to the people of Palestine, as well as other Middle-Eastern countries terrorized by the Zionist empire, to all who died trying to help and protect the Palestinians from Israeli destruction, like Rachel Corrie, and to those who are still fighting for freedom of the Palestinians and other victims of Zionism, like Ken O’Keefe and many others.

You can find details and download the album HERE.

Justice For Smiley Culture - a song and some thoughts

2011-03-28T20:14:00.004+01:00

Broken Drum Records artist Talking Dog shares his thoughts on the recent mysterious death during arrest of Smiley Culture.

I would like to begin this probably rambling piece by expressing my respect and condolences to the family and friends of David Emmanuel, better known to many as Smiley Culture. Smiley Culture was a much loved British icon following his hits in the 80s with Cockney Translation and Police Officer.

He broke new ground in the UK with his sharply intelligent and often hilariously funny lyrical dexterity as an MC. He was at his best telling vibrantly gritty and amusing stories of multicultural life in London mixed in with sly and subversive social and political observation. In many ways Smiley was a forerunner of contemporary UK Grime and Hiphop artists. His work stands the test of time and is well worth seeking out on YouTube.

He died on 15 March 2011 during a police search on his house in Surrey, from a single knife wound to the heart. The police have stated that he committed suicide in this fashion whilst they allowed him out of their sight into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. He was due to appear in court later in March on charges of conspiracy to supply cocaine, but his family strongly refute these allegations and say that evidence against him was minimal and that he and his legal team were confident of acquittal.

Those who knew him best find it impossible to believe that he would take his own life, let alone in this highly unusual fashion. It also seems very peculiar, for many reasons, that a suspect would be allowed to wander around in this fashion while a search was being executed. Consequently his death, and the bizarre circumstances in which it occurred, have shocked and angered many people. This tragic event has prompted accusations of murder, manslaughter - or at best, negligence - by the police. Fears of a cover up by the police are widespread and there is a lack of confidence in the forthcoming investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).

Given the long and troubled history of the policing of the black community in the UK it is unsurprising that the floodgates have opened. This brings back a tide of bad memories of racism, violence, injustices and cover ups that extends back decades. This catalogue of individual and institutional racist behaviour resides strongly in the collective consciousness of the communities who suffered from it, and from those of us who have been observers of it. For us this does not exist as an isolated incident. Institutional racism has officially characterised the culture of the London Metropolitan Police for a long period of its history of interaction with the black community. Macpherson’s report following the bungled (or subverted?) investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence publicly acknowledged what the community itself has known all the time. Much has changed since the Macpherson report, but not enough to eradicate the lack of confidence that is felt in the way the police handle themselves. It is a sad indictment of the breakdown in the trust and confidence that citizens feel about their police force that, on hearing about the death of Smiley Culture, the suspicion of wrongdoing by the police and a disbelief in the story as it has been told is the IMMEDIATE reaction of so many people. Not just those who might be felt to have some kind of vested interest, but by ordinary people who are not black, not part of that community, and have no connection with the individuals involved. This lack of confidence often also extends to the forthcoming IPCC investigation. The expectation of many is that the conclusion will be that there is no culpability for any police involved in the incident, and that the events will not be scrutinised or subjected to the same level of rigorous analysis and investigation as might be the case if such a violent death had occurred in the presence of people who were other than police officers. The cries of 'cover up!' are being made before it even begins.

This highly charged atmosphere makes it very difficult to view matters dispassionately and objectively. This is to be expected on all sides of the issue. It will be necessary for a highly scrupulous, thorough, forensic and transparent examination of events to take place. Justice needs to be done, and justice needs to be seen to be done, and it needs to be demonstrable that police officers do not enjoy some kind of different status under the law compared to ordinary citizens. Sadly, it is no longer the case that the testimony of police officers can be automatically accepted as undiluted truth, simply by virtue of their profession. Trust has broken down that the police will act with integrity where some of their number may be suspected of criminal acts. This makes the task of justice being perceived to have been done much more difficult. The likelihood that the outcome of any investigation will not be deemed acceptable or truthful, no matter how scrupulously carried out, is very real.

I did not know Smiley Culture personally. I do not know whether the charges made against him have any basis or not. I have heard some say 'he was a drug dealer, he had it coming to him'. He has been denied his day in court to defend himself against the accusations made, so I will never know. At one level, what he did or did not do is irrelevant to what happened. He was alive before 'a visit from the police', and he was dead afterwards. He would almost certainly be alive today had they not visited and conducted themselves in whatever manner they did while they were in his house. Something went very, very wrong that morning.

Only Smiley, the police present at the scene, and the Almighty know what that was. The rest of us have to endure the distress and turmoil of the IPCC investigation. I don’t know what really happened and probably never will with utter certainty. I find the events as portrayed strain credulity, given the seriousness of the charges and the highly unusual way in which this purported suicide is meant to have occurred.

I might be wrong, but it seems to me that the burden of proof rests with the police at this point in time, and there is a lot of damage to undo – not just surrounding this event, but for all the stacked up history that, in some ways, it has come to represent. People don’t just want justice for Smiley Culture. They want JUSTICE. For everyone who didn’t get it in the past, for everyone who doesn’t get it in the present, for everyone who they fear might not get it in the future.

I wrote my own musical response, Justice for Smiley Culture within a couple of days of hearing the news of his death.

It is a raw expression of the churned up feelings I was experiencing at the time, some of which I have sought to explain further in this blog. I believe it is the role of conscious artists to reflect prophetic analysis and critique of what they see happening around them. I have sought to do this in this song, and hope that I have in some partial way captured some of the emotions, questions, and issues that are being keenly felt by so many others. I would like to see justice being done and for some measure of healing and closure to be able to come to those who are angry and grieving. I would like to see truth prevail and equal rights for all. I would like to see good relationships between police and community where nobody gets abused simply because of the colour of their skin or the uniform they wear.

David Emmanuel deserves justice not because he was Smiley Culture – not because he was black (although the events have extra resonance and amplification for black people in the UK) – and not because he is believed by many to be innocent. He deserves justice because this is an issue for ALL UK citizens, of all colours, races, nationalities and communities. We want – and deserve – to be able to have confidence in the police and in our legal system, to know that no other people will die in bizarre circumstances during police engagement, that the same rule of law applies to all citizens including the police and those who make the rules for the rest of us. I will wait with very close interest for the findings of the IPCC enquiry. I hope they do a proper job, because if there is even a whiff that possible culpability of police officers in Smiley’s death has been excluded from serious consideration them this one won’t go away.

You can receive updates on the Justice for Smiley Culture campaign at

http://www.facebook.com/Campaign4Justice4SmileyCulture

and

http://twitter.com/Justice4SmileyC

Secret Archives of the Vatican - Video Podcast 3

2011-03-26T12:43:00.000Z

5 Years of Chillin' 5 Years of Chillin'

2011-03-25T22:28:00.000Z

5 Years of Chillin' is a free compilation of chillout tunes that have been played during the first five years of the excellent podcast, The Chillcast.

Since 2006, Anji Bee has released nearly 300 episodes of her popular chillout music podcast and 55 episodes of her vidcast, promoting nearly 1,500 bands and artists from a wide range of electronica genres (including Secret Archives of the Vatican). She's compiled an hour long compilation featuring previously unreleased tracks by MoShang, Chill Factor-5, 7 Day Visa, Lovespirals (her band with Ryan Lum) and much more. It's an international mix of electronica with heavy jazz and soul influences.

You can find more details and download it from HERE.

H2Z#1... Welcome To The Hip Hop Zone...

2011-03-25T12:12:00.000Z

We like hip hop. Not your mainstream American gangsta crap, though. We like it a bit more musical, a bit more intelligent. Dare we say it, we like it not American.

H2Z, also known as The Hip Hop Zone is a new podcast series from the UK's leading podcaster, Mr Pete Cogle. Cunningly entitled, it features hip hop.

Episode one has some music from Ireland, Germany, Australia and Morocco as well as the UK.

Details HERE

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Angry Mob - Conspiracy Of Mind (Just1 and Nevahmind)
Rampant Zoo Sex Orgy - Cube
Cheeky Bastard - wAgAwAgA
Wha - Jimmy Penguin
All I Want Is To Forget - Ganga
Let Them Know - Rotes
Belong - Thallus
Freestylofanko - DJ Titoff

Nihon Kizuna

2011-03-18T19:58:00.000Z

Worldwide artists contribute to Nihon Kizuna music compilation in aid of Japan disaster relief effort

Over 40 international artists have donated music for the Nihon Kizuna compilation in aid of the Japan disaster relief effort. Nihon Kizuna, or 日本絆 in Japanese roughly translates as ‘bond of friendship with Japan’.

Following the earthquake and tsunami which devastated the northern coast and prefectures of Japan on Friday 11 March 2011, a small group of Tokyo-based artists (from Japan, Ukraine and France) and one visiting London-based journalist (from Italy) decided to pool their efforts and contacts together to do the only thing they could to help the country and its people – sell music to raise awareness of the devastation that hit the area and raise money for its people and the relief effort.

The motivation behind Nihon Kizuna was simple: in face of the feeling of helplessness many felt here in Japan in the aftermath of the earthquake and tsunami this compilation seemed like the best way to express our support and love for the country and its people. Amid widespread scaremongering and panic from the foreign media it felt only right to stand tall alongside the people of Japan who have always welcomed foreign artists and musicians with open arms and hearts.

The compilation was put together in five days thanks to the internet. Every artist and/or label on the compilation donated a track, either previously released, unreleased or created especially for the occasion. Many of the tracks, artists and labels on the compilation have a direct relation to Japan, further highlighting the connection many people outside of the country feel towards Japan in the current situation. It’s no small thing to say that many of those involved feel a kinship to the country regardless of whether or not they’ve ever lived in or visited the country.

Nihon Kizuna is released on Friday 18 March using Bandcamp as a selling platform and with payments handled via Paypal. This will be followed by a release on iTunes Japan in the week of 21 March – as many Japanese residents do not use Paypal.

The compilation will cost £10, $15, 1,500Y or 12E and there will be the possibility to donate more should people want to via Bandcamp. The compilation will be available on iTunes Japan until the end of March, while the Bandcamp page and this website will stay up for the foreseeable future.

All proceeds from the compilation will be given to the Japan Red Cross directly.

Artists and labels involved in the compilation include Kode 9, Kuedo, Rudi Zygadlo, Broken Haze, Circulations Records, All City Records, Daisuke Tanabe, Yosi Horikawa, XLII, Memory 9, Ninja Tune, Kid Kanevil, Om Unit, Paul White, Illum Sphere, One Handed Music, BD1982, Fink, Emika, Mux Mool, Ernest Gonzales, Paper Tiger, Sesped, Jay Scarlett, Elliott Yorke (Royalty), Kan Sano, Onra and many more.

Represented on the compilation are over 7 countries, 40 artists and 10 labels.

____________________________________________________

More details, including the tracklist, may be found HERE.

The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe

2011-03-18T19:53:00.000Z

If you listen to our podcast, you'll know we're big fans of an Arab Canadian hiphop artist called the Narcicyst. He's publishing a book this month! His website says this:

The Diatribes of a Dying Tribe by Yassin ‘The Narcicyst’ Alsalman

Release date 21 March 2011

Diatribe of a Dying Tribe is about the jumbled reality of North American life. The destructive components of juxtaposing cultures, the birth of immigrant internationality and the resilient art that comes out of struggle and oppression.

It is the story of four young Arab men who joined forces to create their own representative governing meeting. Excentrik, Ragtop, Omar Offendum & the Narcicyst spent two weeks in California and endless hours on a computer crafting Fear of an Arab Planet; an examination of the heightened anxiety towards Islam, the Oriental gaze towards the Arab face and the ever-growing paranoia of the ‘other’, all over some bangin’ beats to rock to. As a post-analytical view of the making of an album, this book serves as a document on the burgeoning Arab poetry scene, and how the two mother cultures of a migrant society coalesced through a modern hyper-culture called Hip-Hop. From TSA agents to ABC rappers, The Arab Summit were on a mission to be heard… and that is exactly what happened.

With writing by Suheir Hammad, Omar Offendum, Ragtop & Excentrik
Exclusive Interviews with Cilvaringz, Malikah, Eslaam Jawaad, Members of AK, DAM and Soul Purpose.

You can buy the book from HERE.

You can download Fear of an Arab Planet by The Arab Summit HERE.

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 46 - Songs of Freedom

2011-03-06T20:07:00.000Z

Episode 46 of our fine podcast is now available for download from:

Libsyn

MixCloud

iTunes

Tracks

Battle Toad
Blunt Instrument
http://www.myspace.com/bluntinstrumentofficial/
Wiseman
Distance & Skream
http://www.myspace.com/ringorecordings
Sword Style
Myztical Ninjah
http://soundcloud.com/myztical-ninjah
The Day Fungus Took Over
Timonkey
http://timonkeymusic.com/
Eastern Prophet
Pessimist feat Vega
http://soundcloud.com/buriedaudio/pessimist-feat-vega-eastern-prophet-clip
Heat Stroke
Marco Beltrami
http://www.marcobeltrami.com/
#Jan25
Omar Offendum, The Narcicyst, Freeway, Ayah, Amir Sulaiman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCbpiOpLwFg
http://www.usershare.net/6cjtbiapu5y8
Lyrics: http://www.facebook.com/notes/omar-offendum/jan25-lyrics/10150093099861500
Dance City Boy (Dankiri)
Invisible System
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Invisible-System/46460854245
Mighty Metro Monk
Photophob
http://www.laridae.at/releases.php?release=laridae060

Axe Man Dub

2011-03-04T07:30:00.001Z

There's a new episode of The Dub Zone podcast available.TDZ#94 can be downloaded from HERE. This episode includes a dub from our very own The Talking Dog.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Dub for Alicia - Mikus
Aldubb - Dubmatix & Mighty Howard
Rainy - JoNe
A Strong Minded Dub - Mackajahno
ABC Dub - Nicola Lionfish - as dubbed by The Talking Dog
Mistic Fire - Shamrock Sound
Axeman Dub - Drummie Dan
Nucular Wheapons - Tony Dubshot

Cafe Noah - the music of Jewish Arabs

2011-03-03T09:04:00.000Z

Here's a charming short film from Al Jazeera about Jewish Arabs and their music in the early days of the Israeli state.

Apple set to launch 'HD' music files

2011-02-24T13:46:00.002Z

Apple has apparently been in talks with record companies about new ways of 'enhancing the quality of song files it sells and possibly charging a premium rate for the high fidelity tracks'.

Music is usually recorded in studios in a 24-bit audio format but most tracks are reduced to 16 bits to be put onto CDs. This is still uncompressed ie all the recorded information is still present but at a slightly lower quality.

Mp3s are made smaller still - often they are a tenth the size of the original recording, and although clever algorithms are used to disguise this data compression as much as possible, the sound quality is significantly worse. The public, though, has been trained by the music industry over the last few years to find this crap quality acceptable.

Jimmy Iovine, Chairman of the dinosaur Universal Music Group said recently: ‘We are trying to fix the degradation of music the digital revolution has caused. It’s one thing to have music stolen through the ease of digital processing but it’s another to destroy the quality of it. That’s happening on a massive scale.’

Holy shit. Firstly, there's the tired old mantra slipped in there about 'stealing' of music and then he tries to blame some un-named other person for the fact that mp3s are essentially shit compared with uncompressed audio. Who is selling the mp3s? Oh, yes - his label. Rather than Universal deciding to stop selling this music with its 'destroyed quality', they are clearly happy to continue selling it but use this as an excuse to sell the same music again at decent quality but bump the prices up.

Radiohead's critically aclaimed (but actually predictable and tedious) new album was released in 24 bit format this month. Good for them, though, in one sense. Finally, the public can get hold of music at a quality near to that heard in the recording studio. I see no reason, though, why Universal or Apple or anyone at all should be bumping prices up. Greedy, thieving bastards, the lot of them. A forward thinking label would say: 'We're going to release everything at 24 bit and at current prices'. They'd probably make a fat profit for a while before the music industry bandwagon-jumpers followed suit a year later.

It's still unclear from the limited information whether Apple are planning 24 bit but compressed audio (sort of a super mp3) or 24 uncompressed audio (WAV quality) which would be vastly superior. Let's hope they make the right decision, selling at a sensible price. Let's hope the big four fossil record companies don't scupper it by being as resistant to progress as they always are.

Jack boots or ecstacy?

2011-02-18T22:33:00.002Z

Can music change the world? Can it change anything at all? It's a question that's been asked many a time, with various answers. I'm one of those who believes that music is capable of affecting a change in our culture.

Music effects the emotions while bypassing the intellect. Ponder that for a moment.

This fact is both the source of music's incredible power and also it's great weakness. It can be used destructively, such as when we see stirring marches used to stir populations into believing all the militaristic bollocks spouted by governments the world over while shiny-booted troops march up and down, or it can be used to heal, whether by expressing the depths of desolation (for example, old delta blues from the American deep south) or when making people forget their daily grind by dancing all night in a club.

How can we harness the positive side of music's two-sided power? I think maybe music we create can only express what's already in the musician to be expressed; miserable gits can only produce miserable git music. Well centred people can make music that lifts others up and inspires them - even if it is a blues tune expressing pain. That is music's great paradox.

Gnawa Zone

2011-02-18T22:11:00.003Z

PCP#339... Welcome To The Gnawa Zone...

The latest edition of the PC Podcast features interviews with various members of Secret Archives of the Vatican and the Broken Drum Records/BDR Dancefloor collective, recorded in Marrakech in mid February. We talk about all kinds of things including our new dancefloor orientated label, cunningly named BDR Dancefloor.

Listen to the podcast HERE.

Pete Cogle interviews the Talking Dog

Tracks

Tinariwen - Tamatant Tilay
Texture - The Dawn View
Secret Archives of the Vatican - Old Codger Dub
Singletrack - Nightmare
Unknown - Traditional Gnawa Music
Nicola Lionfish (Dubbed by the Talking Dog) - ABC Dub
Secret Archives of the Vatican - Bint Al Wazir

Gnawa musicians in Marrakech

DubZealand - review

2011-02-16T22:02:00.001Z

DubZealand: bass culture music... is a new compilation from (the clue's in the name) New Zealand. Compiled by Jstar and Dr Cat, it has fourteen tracks that cover the spectrum from fairly traditional rootsy dub to some poppy reggae and a couple of tunes that slide into dubstep territory. Here in the northern hemisphere we're pretty much unaware of the NZ music scene but it seems we're missing out on some good stuff! Green Queen Music have done us a mighty favour by making this top quality music available on a CD and download release.

Standout tracks are Big Up Riddim by Dub Terminator, a head-nodding slab of steppers riddim, Dem Only Know by Rhombus in Dub, which has a slight electronica feel and Unitone HiFi's Up To Eleven which captures an old school rootsical vibe with aplomb. International Observer (amazingly, an ex-member of the Thompson Twins) brings some Eastern flavour with Popcorn (Bombay Dub Orchestra Opium Den remix). Jefferson Belt's The Creeping Tings of the Earth has a strange Rasta-inflected vocal but is also quite poppy. Give Some Dub by The Nomad ventures successfully into vocal dubstep/triphop territory. The whole album is great, though, and well sequenced and works as an old-style continuous listen.

The album is available as a download from Junodownload HERE.

Tracks

Struggler's Dub - The Black Seeds
Big Up Riddim - Dub Terminator
Dem Only Know (Dem Only Dub Mix) - Rhombus in Dub
Up To Eleven - Unitone HiFi
Arms Over Jordan (Deep Fried Dub Remix) - The Red Eyes
Popcorn (BDO Opium Den Remix) - International Observer
The Creeping Tings of the Earth - Jefferson Belt
Lady Love (Richie Price Instrumental Mix) - Sola Rosa feat Bajka
Give Some Dub - The Nomad
Sing it to Me (Tikidub Sings It - Tiki Taane Remix) - Knights Of The Dub Table
Haunted Out-take (Interlude) - Interlude - Sola Rosa
South of the Line - Pitch Black
Collie Herb Man (Joost Langveld & Roger Perry Reactor Dub) - Katchafire
Blessting - Jstar & Dr Cat

Transnational Dubstep - review

2011-02-16T21:05:00.001Z

Dubstep is a strange beast. Some believe it to have gone the way of the dinosaurs or of telex machines - extinct but having evolved into other, more highly developed species, much as mammals and birds evolved from earlier reptilian ancestors. Others don't see it that way, believing it to be thriving, morphing into ever more sub-genres and influencing mainstream music more than ever before. Perhaps these are, in fact, exactly the same thing. As it dies, it creates more life, perpetuating a cycle of death and rebirth.

Here in Croydon, the Cronx, dubstep's birthplace, the genre has generally been devoid of any such philosophising. However, as dubstep's bastard offspring spread around the world they breed with other musical species and produce beautiful hybrids that demand some thought, some conceptual framework to explain their existence. Here in the Secret Archives, we've long loved musical forms from around the world and we discovered dubstep about three years back (I know, we're always late...). We've been attempting in our own music to bring both ends of our musical interests together but our friends over at Generation Bass have compiled an entire album of amazing, creative, genre-defying music called Transnational Dubstep. They say it's the first major compilation to document the fusion of dubstep and global roots music and its fifteen tracks show influences from all over the globe, from the Balkans to China, from India to Japan and the Middle East - and there's even some Cumbia bringing some South American flavours to the mix.

So, is there a unifying force that has brought these disparate artists and styles together? I'm not sure there is, other than the enthusiasm of people like DJ Umb and his Generation Bass musical partner Vincent Koreman. They're found that artists all over the world are paying no attention to genre boundaries and are blending traditional musical forms from their own cultures and others with cutting edge electronica and transnational dubstep is the result. The tracks on this eminently listenable album are certainly eclectic in their sources but the overall collection works incredibly well as a continuous listening experience.

There are some highlight tracks for me: Shem's Only Human opens with what sounds like a Santoor or a Qanoon and then brings in some utterly filthy squelchy wobble. Yeah! Engine Earz Experiment's Kaliyuga has been around for a little while but sounds as destructively awesome now as when I first heard it some months back. It has an immensely catchy riff that leads into some beautifully raspy bass synth lines while staying evocatively melodic. Undertow in G# by Alexis K features a menacing bass drone over some beautiful broken beats. There's some head-nodding sufi dub from Celt Islam with Dub Reflex, featuring tablas over a grooving steppers riddim (this we like!) and Dub Gabriel -produced Salahadeen by Jajouka Soundsystem (real trance music!) brings in some chilled dubby Moroccan flavours - this we also like very much.

The other tracks are just as good as these - this compilation is cherry picked from a vast repertoire of tunes that have passed through DJ Umb's Generation Bass network of DJs, producers and musicians. Top work, Mr Umb. Well done, too, to Six Degrees Records for being willing to take a chance on a niche album and for releasing it on CD as well as a download. Some of us like to hear our music properly!

Tracks

India Sleeping – Mars
Kaliyuga – Engine Earz Experiment
Undertow in G# – Alexis K
Rude Profile – Fleck & Fish Finger
Cumbia Dub – Knowa Knowone
Clownie – Innamorati
Valium Gitan – SaBat' Machines
Only Human – Shem
Kamikaze – Dysphemic
Shiva Step – Barbarix
Bukkake – Syndaesia
Bhangra Fever – Midival Punditz
Brown Skin Beauty (Liquid Stranger Remix) - Bandish Projekt
Dub Reflex – Celt Islam
Salahadeen – Jajouka Soundsystem

North African Revolution Hiphop

2011-02-08T10:20:00.001Z

Our thanks to Andy Kissaragi of Untimely Sound for bringing this to our attention:

Khalas Mixtape Vol 1 is a compilation of songs created by North African hip hop artists from Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria, who have emerged as voices of recent uprisings and calls for protest. Mish Ba3eed, or 'not far', refers to the sense of solidarity that these youth feel across borders, the similarities of their causes and the oppressors they face,l their physical proximity and the sense that our ultimate goal is within sight. Each song describes the unique circumstances of each artist's country, carrying with it the subtleties of local dialects, but also highlights the extraordinary similarities of their struggles.

Download it from HERE.

(This is a dropbox link - if it is oversubscribed it may shut down....if so, I will try to find an alternative link).

Ok....try this link: Khalas Mixtape

Godin MultiOud at NAMM 2011

2011-02-05T08:59:00.000Z

Here's Richard Bunze from Godin talking about some acoustic guitars but he then gets to the point and talks about the amazing MultiOud.

Check out previous posts with clips of the MultiOud being played HERE and HERE.

Hell Dub...

2011-02-04T12:11:00.000Z

TDZ#92... Hell Dub...

Episode 92 of podcast meister Pete Cogle's dubtastic The Dub Zone podcast is now available!

Details HERE.

Download directly from HERE.

Tracks

Banshee Dub - Dubzonic
Minimalismi - Para
Dubstance - Pama International
The Rarest Gummy Of Them All - Earlyw~rm
Sound Clash - Dubsalon
Dub Cry - Hatman
Extent Of The Foot - Mildtape
The Train To Zion Tribute - Shan-A-Shan

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 44 - Angry Ninjas

2011-02-02T22:38:00.000Z

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 44 - Angry Ninjas is now available from Libsyn, MixCloud and iTunes.

Tracks

I Put a Spell on You (MiMOSA Remix)
Nina Simone
http://mimosa.bandcamp.com/track/i-put-a-spell-on-you-mim0sa-remix
I Put a Spell on You
Natacha Atlas
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SFQHXG/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPaZ0V5f-8
Eastern Liquid
Kalya Scintilla
http://kalyascintilla.bandcamp.com/track/eastern-liquid
Lost in Yamun feat. Indi Kaur
Forensics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEJt2qTW4K0
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/in-shadow/id364457168
Jerusalem
Heartbeat
http://heartbeatmusic.bandcamp.com/album/true-love-the-1st-israeli-palestinian-german-hip-hop-hudna
Arabian Nights
DJ Nautinto
http://djnautinto.bandcamp.com/track/arabian-nights
Way of the Symurai
Wrexile
http://soundcloud.com/wrexile/way-of-the-symurai
Like Dem Samurai
Theonetheonlychesh
http://soundcloud.com/theonetheonlychesh/like-dem-samurai
Black Samurai (Photek v Sixth Finger)
Voidstar
http://soundcloud.com/voidstar/black-samurai
Samurai Black
Shistol
http://soundcloud.com/shistol/shistol-samurai-black
Angry Ninjas
Artem Zlobin
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angry-Ninjas-Original-Mix/dp/B004KGE0HY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K5r5qPFguQ
Kenjutsu
Rizla
http://soundcloud.com/einmal/rizla-kenjutsu/
Tibetan Bowl feat. Blender
Mr One Two
http://boomkat.com/downloads/365058-mr-one-two-the-lost-country

Digital Resistance 2

2011-01-30T11:43:00.000Z

See my previous post, Digital Resistance.

Digital resistance is a political act. It challenges the powers-that-be and re-appropriates powers that belong to us. It returns to us the 'choice' that politicians talk so much about, even as everything they do is set to remove it from us and control it.

However, the tactical use of media and the arts to express resistance is not usually a conscious act by people who want to be politically active in the traditional sense. Heck, politics is boring and irrelevant to most people. Or so they think.

It amazes me sometimes when people say 'I'm not interested in politics'. They're often very willing to have a good old moan about tax rates or the banking crisis, how crap schools are in their area or about how there are never police around when you need them. They don't seem to have made the connection, that these issues and more are all about who we give power to and what degree of power we give them. That's politics. I fully understand why many people don't care about political parties and the grey, self-serving power hungry scum who inhabit them - but to say one has no interest in politics is illogical and stupid. We all care about what happens to us and who's controlling our lives.

It applies in less obvious ways too. Who is deciding what we listen to, read, watch or play? Who sets the boundaries of the choices we have? Even in the realms of music and art, these things are political. There are power brokers with vested interests in things being a certain way, who have the resources to manipulate and direct a somnambulent general public into being mere 'consumers'. I hate that term.

Our little record label, Broken Drum Records, and its new offshoot BDR Dancefloor, were formed without any great pre-existing ideological impetus. We just wanted to make music. The tactical use of media to affect social change is like that; most protagonists are not taking the traditional role of political activists and aren't either supporting a political party or playing the inherently reactive role of the counter-cultural rejectionist. However, the moment we choose to step outside the boundaries created by unbridled capitalism or the traditional media industries, we're in the realms of digital resistance and we're creating tactical media.

I came across this definition of 'tactical media', which I quite like.

The term 'tactical media' refers to a critical usage and theorization of media practices that draw on all forms of old and new, both lucid and sophisticated media, for achieving a variety of specific noncommercial goals and pushing all kinds of potentially subversive political issues.
(N5M, 1993)

I'm not sure about the 'non-commercial' part - we have no aversion to earning money - but we definitely have specific as well as superbly vague goals and our aim is to be subversive.

We started Broken Drum Records back in the days of the Cassette Culture. This was pre-internet, so not exactly 'digital' but it was resistance. People around the world made music that the industry would have rejected, using a medium that was accessible to everyone, unlike vinyl, and distributed that music in a manner not controlled by the mainstream music industry. It had its own print media, with some excellent fanzines (eg Gajoob) being another good example of cultural resistance. There were radio shows around the world that would play home-produced cassettes. We were very excited to be part of something, to be able to make music when we'd have had no chance of doing anything within the mainstream music industry. We were able to do whatever we liked. It doesn't sound particularly subversive - it's not like we were exposing state secrets or planning a terrorist campaign - but it was subverting the dinosaur music industry by the radical, beautiful technique of simply ignoring it and doing what we wanted to do.

As time went on, I developed a personal political message within my music. I had, over a long period of time, become utterly bored with rock music and had started to discover different genres from around the world. African, Arabian, South Asian, North African musical forms were full of sounds and rhythms that reinvigorated my jaded musical tastebuds. Sometime in the mid 90s I first heard Transglobal Undergound and Natacha Atlas, Loop Guru and Bill Laswell. They brought these musical forms into a glorious collision with Western electronica and created something that grabbed my attention as nothing had for some time. I knew that this was the music I'd been waiting for. My personal political agenda since then has been to introduce this new way of looking at music to my friends and the world around me. The mainstream music business is happy enough to sell 'world music' but even by giving it that marketing label, it has consigned a thousand musical genres to a place where they can be collectively ignored in favour of predictable, tedious guitar rock that the unimaginative moguls of the record industry can understand and control.

In the 90s, just as here in the UK the Asian Undergound was the very cutting edge of creativity, the industry came up with Britpop, the most retro, pointless, uncreative marketing scam in years. The music industry hasn't changed since. It churns out guitar bands by the dozen, mostly rehashing ideas that those of us born in the 60s and achieving adulthood during punk, have heard a thousand times before. Packaged, hygienic rebellion for the masses. Yawn. The few remaining record shops marginalise the musical forms I love to the 'specialist music' bins. Nothing changes.

However, our small contribution to digital resistance moves forward. We have a thriving podcast, playing drum and bass, dubstep, dub, hiphop and more, very often with a non-Western influence.

Many of the artists give their music away free or any payment goes directly to them not to fatcat shareholders of one of the big four labels. Our own globally-flavoured music continues to do well. More and more people are reading this very blog. Many of my friends have broadened their listening habits into realms they wouldn't have imagined fifteen years ago. Several of them have joined the Broken Drum Records team. I don't know what personal agendas some of the crew may have with our musical work - perhaps I'll ask them and write about that next time.

Resistance isn't futile!

Digital Resistance

2011-01-24T14:16:00.000Z

Secret Archives of the Vatican started making music at the end of the 80s, start of the 90s, and we caught the tail end of an amazing social phenomenon, the cassette trader scene. There's a half decent Wikipedia article about the scene HERE.

We were conscious, even then at the start of the 90s, that we were making a conscious choice to operate outside of the mainstream music industry, where there was little or no possibility for 'success' if you made genre-defying, truly unique music. It meant we'd never make any significant money but we'd be free to do whatever we wanted to with no-one telling us how to present our music or forcing us into 'marketable' styles. We did alright; we had radio play in over 20 countries, we had tracks featured on compilation cassettes issued with various magazines and, above all, we had fun doing it. As far as I'm concerned, we had success. It just wasn't what the record companies would call success. Details of some of our early releases can be found HERE.

There were hugely influential publications (such as Gajoob) that played a part in developing a kind of philosophical basis for this independent artistic activity and we loved it.

Well, the years rolled on, the postal services declined, cassettes died and the internet was born. It took a while but now the advent of broadband and mp3s, FLACs, WAVs etc has made the creation, distribution and acquisition of music more democratic than ever before. No wonder the old dinosaur music industry hates it and constantly tries to undermine any progress. All of this we've written about elsewhere, of course, so let's not get sidetracked.

In the recent past, the political process here in the UK and Ireland, and also in the USA, has been deeply damaged by incompetence, corruption and people finding out the truth through things such as Wikileaks. I've noticed a small but steadily growing murmur of discontent among people I know and I've been intrigued by various suggestions that deliberately and consciously, as far as it is possible for us to do so, we should choose to operate outside of the parameters of behaviour chosen for us by politicians, unrestrained capitalism and old industries.

Some people have started to use the term Digital Resistance. The moment I heard the term, I knew it made sense. It's about using the possibilities of digital distribution of knowledge, subversive art, real news etc to disrupt existing authoritarian power structures. It's about digital intervention in situations of injustice. It's about the possibilities of invading worlds that have been deliberately kept from us by powerful people with vested interests in maintaining antidemocratic and controlling structures intact for their own benefit.

There is no way in most developed Western countries that we can change the world through politics; never in my lifetime have people been so disillusioned with, and contemptuous of, our political leaders. All major parties seem interchangeable and the minority parties are either nutters or fascists. There is no cultural salvation from the political quarter. Violent revolution is an option, I guess, but firstly I don't believe it changes anything (other than very temporarily). As soon as idealists take power, they have to constrain the next generation of idealists in order to protect their own revolution from that of the younger generation. It ends up just as autocratic as what went before. Secondly, I also hate violence - it's not a road I want to go down.

So, how do we negate the rising intensity of authoritarian culture? It is my belief that a digital cultural resistance movement has immense promise; new paradigms of digital intervention are being gestated right now. Through our art, music, alternative news sources, confrontational refusal to comply, and active opting-out from received patterns of social convention, we can effectively prevent The Man from ordering our lives and telling us how to live.

Our little part of all this is mostly in the musical realm. We're trying to be at the forefront of new ways of doing things and we're committed to making a fair amount of the music we create available free of charge (although we don't have a theoretical objection to earning some money for the work we put in). Through our blogs and podcasts we try to tell everyone about good music by other artists and labels. We write in our blogs about the lies and misrepresentations of the mainstream music industry.

We're at an early stage of thinking about the implications of a Digital Resistance movement and we'll be sharing more of our thoughts here as our ideas develop.

Ancient Book - Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 42

2011-01-21T07:20:00.000Z

Transnational esotericism, bass, beauty and riddim! Old, new, borrowed and true....another inspirational and uplifting episode of the Secret Archives of the Vatican podcast!

Download it from Libsyn or MixCloud or iTunes.

Tracks

Mantra (Doors of Perception edit)
Material
http://music.hyperreal.org/labels/axiom/
Dub Dragon
Juttla
itunes.apple.com/au/album/at-war-with-satan/id295035831
The Book of Clouds and Rain
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Ancient Book of the Way
Knowa KnowOne
http://generationbass.com/2011/01/17/knowa-knowone-transnational-dubstep-beauties/
First Impression
Mick Karn
http://www.mickkarn.net/
Istanbul
Mercan Dede
http://www.mercandede.com/EN/
The Stones at the Feet of a Prophet
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Sullen Sultry (Knowa Knowone Remix)
ill-esha
http://generationbass.com/2011/01/17/knowa-knowone-transnational-dubstep-beauties/
Mountain Top Water Drop
El Nomada
http://soundcloud.com/el-nomada/mountain-water-drop

The first rule of Record Club...

2011-01-18T20:37:00.000Z

Have a read of this BBC News item: Are record clubs the new book clubs?

What do you think? I can see both sides of this old world v new world debate.

The new world is great; I can weed out crappy music, order tunes from an album any way I like and mix tunes from various albums. I love that music is now properly portable and that it's easy to share good tunes with other people. I can make my own DJ mixes. I can choose the sound quality I want.

The old world held some particular pleasures; it was normal to listen to an entire album all the way through and properly appreciate those albums that were written as a concept or were carefully sequenced to be heard in a particular order. A few weeks ago, a friend played our own 2008 CD, Babylon Halt, in full on an online radio station. It was the first time I'd listened right through probably since we released it. If I say so myself, it was amazing and the tracks were in just the right order. I remembered how many times we'd listened through to get it right. I realised how long it had been since had I listened to an album right through while paying attention rather than while walking around. I think maybe we've missed a trick along the way.

I'm sure there are still many musicians out there who write tunes to be listened to in a particular order - and I don't necessarily mean old gits like me from before the digital age. Some younger people still have a vision for their music of creating something that goes beyond the disposable four minute stand-alone tune (not that there's anything wrong with those!). I wonder if the ease of acquisition and use, the sheer disposability of modern digital cultural artifacts, has undermined their perceived value to the point where we don't respect the music, art or games that we fill our lives with.

Maybe we should make some time to listen to some good music, classic or new, properly and with full attention.

Five albums with non-Western influences that you SHOULD own

2011-01-10T18:54:00.000Z

Here are five albums you should own (in no particular order). They all have influences from outside the realms of UK/US mainstream musical forms and that's why I like them. They will change your life for the better!

Nagual Site - Sacred System

http://www.discogs.com/Sacred-System-Nagual-Site/release/225451

Three EPS - Shackleton

http://www.discogs.com/Shackleton-Three-EPs/release/1955814

Shabeesation - Aisha Kandisha's Jarring Effects

http://www.discogs.com/Aisha-Kandishas-Jarring-Effects-Shabeesation/release/235613

Electric Sufi - Dhafer Youssef

http://www.discogs.com/Dhafer-Youssef-Electric-Sufi/master/262377

Passion - Peter Gabriel

http://www.discogs.com/Peter-Gabriel-Passion/master/29882

Music 'releases mood-enhancing chemical in the brain'

2011-01-10T18:52:00.000Z

Music 'releases mood-enhancing chemical in the brain'

This BBC news item reports on a study which says about the chemical dopamine: It is known to produce a feel-good state in response to certain tangible stimulants - from eating sweets to taking cocaine. Dopamine is also associated with less tangible stimuli - such as being in love.

It also says: Dopamine is a common neurotransmitter in the brain. It is released in response to rewarding human activity and is linked to reinforcement and motivation - these include activities that are biologically significant such as eating and sex.

Years ago I saw a documentary that said that enjoying clubbing was a learned experience. At that time we were just starting to make electronic music and, although I had loved going to rock or folk gigs for years, I had always felt that my few visits to clubs left me cold or, more accurately, utterly mystified. What did people get from bobbing about to tedious repetitive beats for hours on end? I knew lots of them were probably dropping Es but some weren't. So, maybe this study explains it to some degree. Some of the same brain chemicals released or augmented by drugs may well be released quite naturally by music, volume and physical activity. And bass!

As the years have gone on and we've made a lot of dance music, been to a lot of clubs and learned to just relax and go with the vibe, I totally get it now. Music still moves me and I don't need drugs to enjoy it.

Secret Archives of the Vatican's 2010 releases

2010-12-22T09:21:00.001Z

It's almost Christmas and therefore it's a fitting time to acquire any of 2010's Secret Archives of the Vatican releases you may have missed.

They're free!

The Glidepath EP: http://secretarchivesofthevatican.bandcamp.com/album/the-glidepath-ep

Wisdom Truth: http://secretarchivesofthevatican.bandcamp.com/album/wisdom-truth-ep

Dreams and Visions: http://secretarchivesofthevatican.bandcamp.com/album/dreams-and-visions

This music will improve your holiday!

Mesopotamian Homesick Blues

2010-12-03T13:46:00.000Z

Here's a new Secret Archives of the Vatican tune. We were holding this for the next release but we've had a harddrive failure in the studio so we're not sure if we still have the master WAV file. We've still got the multitrack recording so we can always do it again - but here's an mp3 of the original mix.

Secret Archives of the Vatican___ Mesopotamian Homesick Blues

Peace Through Superior Flowerpower

2010-12-03T13:43:00.000Z

Transnational Trackfest

2010-12-03T13:40:00.000Z

Highly influential music blog Generation Bass has featured a Secret Archives of the Vatican tune and two unauthorised remixes/mashups that we put together for a DJ set by the Secret Archives of the Vatican Soundsystem a few weeks back. One of the remixes is listed as being by Yohei but that's because SoundCloud presents tunes as being by the uploader rather than the artist.

Check it out here:

Transnational trackfest

Hatman!

2010-11-20T09:12:00.000Z

Hatman! is the title of episode 332 of the Pete Cogle Podcast.

PCP#332 features one of our tunes, Children of Mars and some other top music including a tune by the Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan.

Full details HERE
Direct download HERE

Conscious Rasta

2010-11-20T08:54:00.001Z

Another highly recommended free release from one of our favourite labels, Fresh Poulp: France's Guitoud has released his third album, Conscious Rasta. It's a cracking album, featuring eleven tunes in classic dub and reggae style.

Full details and download link are HERE.

Jinn Genie – let yourself go!

2010-11-19T23:10:00.000Z

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 40 - Jinn Genie is now available for download from MixCloud, from Libsyn or from iTunes.

Tracks

Chuck Norris is a Wuss
Bukez Finezt
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bukez-Finezt/215113049047?v=wall
Electric Genie
Cypocalypse
http://soundcloud.com/cypocalypse
Genie in a bottle funky shithead drumstep remix
Christina Aguilera
Sorry - can't remember where this came from!
Jinn and Men
The Strangers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWK0Id-wRgA
The Nile Dread
Early Worm
http://soundcloud.com/earlywrm/the-nile-dread
Traibal Tribu
Tecladeoro
http://soundcloud.com/tecladeoro
Leper Colony
Michaelis Constant
http://www.discogs.com/Michaelis-Constant-Gondwanaland/release/2503429
She's Gone [Oneohtrix Point Never Remix]
Gonjasufi
http://www.sufisays.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonjasufi
Russian Elephant
Spaceport Orkestra of Benares
http://www.spaceport-orkestra.de/

DSZ#30... For Dub Use Only...

2010-11-19T07:28:00.001Z

The Dub Step Zone podcast features a Secret Archives of the Vatican tune in episode 30. It's a great podcast, always worth checking out. You'll hear music that you won't hear anywhere else - all good stuff!

Full details HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

For Oral, Rectal and Underarm Use - Muph
Life’s Too Short - Hansollo
Unit 1 Learn Spanish 1 - Soft Wasp
Shifty - Mekanikles
Pandarastan - FJH
Stylite Dub - Secret Archives of the Vatican
Months Alone - Dawn Tawn Prince
Wobblatino Step (Dub Version) - Phoniandflore

On a Mission from Dub...

2010-11-12T07:26:00.001Z

On A Mission From Dub... Episode 87 of the mighty The Dub Zone podcast is now available.

Full details HERE.

Direct download HERE.

Tracks

Calm Anekoik - Metastaz
Henri Martin Affair - Uffe meets Volfoniq
Indian Dub - Uptown Rebel
Pe Na Estrada - DubRifles
Observation (Cus Cus Bass Line) - Kanjah
Ghost in Dub - Dub Machinist & Dub Lee Yan
Dubworks - Hatman
On A Mission From Jah - Solomon808

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 39 - Out of the Unknown

2010-11-09T07:29:00.000Z

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 39 - Out of the Unknown is now available for download from MixCloud, from Libsyn or from iTunes.

Tracks

Kuzlaring (Original mix)
Alfida
http://soundcloud.com/alfidamusic
Dub is Electronic Music
Dubalizer
http://www.fresh-poulp.net/releases/fpr041/
Together
Cahb
http://soundcloud.com/cahb/cahb-together-free-download
I’m Not Sure If It Is Allowed To Breakdance In Church
Maxime Robin
http://www.fresh-poulp.net/releases/fpr047/
Paranoid Arab Boy
Mister Arab
The Narcicyst
http://iraqisthebomb.com/
Shooting Down Airplanes 2
Maxime Robin
http://www.fresh-poulp.net/releases/fpr047/
The Phantom (Om Unit Dub)
Computer Jay
http://soundcloud.com/omunit/computer-jay-the-phantom-om-unit-dub-free-download
Drops in the Desert
Retrotation
http://soundcloud.com/retrotation
Out of the Unknown
El Haijn
http://soundcloud.com/el-haijn/el-haijn-out-of-the-unknown-free-download
Ten Rozmarin
Draxter
http://soundcloud.com/draxter/draxter-ten-rozmarin-original-mix-mld-008-free-release

The Moroccan Digitaliser

2010-11-08T15:29:00.000Z

Our friend U-Cef, London-based Moroccan musician and DJ, has relaunched his website, newly designed and looking good! Check it out HERE.

U-Cef is also on Facebook.

Mr Asthmatic

2010-11-07T23:06:00.000Z

The Narcicyst, one of our favourite hiphop artists has released a mixtape for free download. Details from HERE, direct download HERE.

PCP#330… Go To Hell! …

2010-11-07T22:42:00.000Z

Episode 330 of the PC Podcast includes one of our tunes, Dreams and Visions.
Full details HERE.
Direct download from HERE.

Tracks

Got The News In The Clock - The Gakk
Rajasthani Reggae - Dhoad Gypsies of Rajasthan
Lounge Lizard - Heifersonic
Go To Hell - Loudog
Super FM Dub - Hayvanlar Alemi
Dreams and Visions - Secret Archives of the Vatican
The Escapist - Janaka Selekta
Tropical - Rum Shebeen
My Soul (feat. Wreckage Machinery) - Zoom
95 Charing Cross Road - The Penny Black Remedy

Cassettes

2010-10-29T19:39:00.001+01:00

In these days when the traditional mainstream music industry is in freefall and anyone can make and release tunes very easily, some people are messing about with older physical formats - I guess there's a certain perception of 'coolness' about releasing your music on 7 inch vinyl for example. I've been aware that a few people have been releasing on the crappiest old format of all, the cassette. Here's a picture of some I saw today. I have no particular ideological objection to cassettes (apart from thinking they're shit) but to charge £12.99 for a cassette is nothing less than blatant thievery. Rough Trade should be ashamed of themselves.

2010-10-29T10:18:00.000+01:00

Gravitational Dub is the name of episode 86 of The Dub Zone podcast.
You can find full details HERE and you can download TDZ#86 directly from HERE.

Tracks

Flamenco Warrior - MakaRon
2 Dub Champions Dub Fever - Solomon808
Believe Yourself - Tsunami Wazahari
Hypnotic Stagger - Baby Arm Sound System
Wicked Gravity Dub - Yabass vs The Manor
Clint Eastwood Speaks His Mind - Tony Dubshot
Pe Na Estrada - y DubRifles
Lord Melody - Trickstar

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 38 - Storyteller

2010-10-25T14:42:00.000+01:00

Secret Archives of the Vatican Podcast 38 - Storyteller is now available to download or listen from:

Tracks

Lost in Hebron
Ninja Kodou
http://www.facebook.com/ninja.kodou
The Hanging Gardens
Plaeground
http://plaeground.com/
Storyteller
Secret Archives of the Vatican
http://www.brokendrumrecords.com
Snake Charmer
Xkollective
http://music.tigersonic.com/album/electric-flowers
Black Hebrew
Natty Nation
http://nattynation.bandcamp.com/track/black-hebrew
Soundboy Murderstyle (Dubwave Mix)
Scout Ship
http://soundcloud.com/subinfinity-recordings/scout-ship-soundboy-murderstyle-dubwave-mix
Nin-jutsu
Ninja Kodou
http://www.facebook.com/ninja.kodou
Space Ninja
Tim Ismag
http://soundcloud.com/timismag
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tim-Ismag/103143453069250
It's Raining Lazers
Plaeground
http://plaeground.com/
Worlds of Resurrection
Orko Eloheim / ChakRA Zulu
http://orkoeloheim.bandcamp.com/album/forbidden-physics