chrisbray.co.uk

Whatever your opinion on X-Factor, Simon Cowell, Rage Against The Machine, Chart-rigging and being told what to do, you've gotta admit this is good...

Killing In The Name Of was a good tune when it was released back in 1992 (was it really 17 years ago, now I feel old!) and it's still a great tune, if it means making a stand against manufactured pop now, well, that might not be quite such an important cause as the racism it was originally protesting against, but it's good enough for me!

You can:
Buy it on iTunes
Buy it on Play.com
Buy it on HMV

Fight the power!

I had a disc pop through the door the other day, alright, so it was a couple of weeks ago, but I've been busy listening to it!

It was from ex-XFM DJ, instrumental VJ from the early days of MTV and JLH Music head-honcho James Hyman.

Having been a fan of his various mix-cd's in the past, the Quentin Tarrantino one my personal favourite, I was quite excited to receive the latest in the series 'Super Hearing'.

Well it doesn't disappoint. From the opening introduction over that John Williams 'Superman Main Theme' right through to Burial's Archangel and Glasvegas' Daddy's Gone it's a proper barnstormer! Reworkings of modern classics from the likes of A-ha, REM, The Chemical Brothers lead to something altogether a bit more oldschool from AC/DC, Elvis Presley, John Lennon and The Rolling Stones but it heads there via cutting edge mashups and dubs from the likes of Benga & Coki, Diplo, Kanye West, Kid Cuidi, MIA and Dizzee Rascal and even a tip of the hat to the late Michael Jackson it really has got something for everyone (check the tracklisting at discogs.com).

Twisting and turning from house to dubstep to hiphop to downbeat the movie theme is ever present (check the awesome movie-poster artwork!) but never cheesy or clichéd this mix blends and builds beats, rhythms and feeling to take the listener on a musical journey to a destination you feel like you know, but you're just not sure how you're going to get there!

If you like the Diplo meets Soulwax meets N*E*R*D and gets mashed up a bit with Toddla T and Benga on the way type sound, this is for you.

Bottom line: I think it's going to be pretty much resident on my iPod, the latest in a great series of mix-CD's, 10/10, keep 'em coming James ;)

Just saw this over on Chocolate and Vodka and I agree with @Suw, I think it's brilliant and I agree with many of the points raised within.

It's an issue that's really got to me recently, the European decision to double the copyright period for recorded works from 50 years to 100 years.

In my opinion this decision does nothing for the 'grass roots' musician that they should be supporting, benefiting only the extremely long established artist that has a great back catalogue of work. Making the rich richer and offering nothing to the jobbing musician trying to make a living doing what (s)he loves, totally wrong in my opinion.

Well @Suw over at Chocolate and Vodka has been involved with the Open Rights Group for some time, and has recently blogged about their new video How Copyright Extension in Sound Recordings Actually Works. It explains the problems associated with copyright extension really well and I highly recommend you do what Suw suggests, write to your MEP and support the Open Rights Group so that they can continue to campaign on your behalf, they have some details over on their site regarding what else we can do, it seems we have missed the formal event but getting in touch with your MEP can't be a bad idea!

Here's the video just in case you can't be bothered to click over to CnV!