Iffy Bizness tees

Well, we bit the bullet, and these li'l babies come in multiple-choice dif'rent colours:

Bonusround005: Muzak Review

The Original Mix is archetypal Luke's Anger: über-deep, reverbing kick-beats that have a tendency to go out-of-kilter and/or drop out, in favour of cool stabs and bleeps; the riff that kicks in around 1:15 is an absolute killer, and the vocal samples ride it all with adept panache. Think a mental-funk ditty that'd flatten any dancefloor containing half-decent open-minded ravers.

The Forshaw remix made me think of Ed Rush, Optical and/or Dillinja in their heyday on acid, messing around with Si Begg - more breaks/drum & bass/grindcore-style electronica. In other ways, gloriously all over the place and as cool as my grandma's Christmas cake. Now, my nan passed away about 5 years ago, so you can't begin to imagine how cool it'd be to have one of those cakes now. Same thing.

The ever-cool Paul Birken goes more slow, grubby, glitchy crawl with a suavely kitsch '80s electro feel. It's so heavy and so subby it made my speakers work overtime and threaten to bust their stitches.

Dzaxy's mix is faster and a wee bit crunchier, with the subs still shaking, and goes more eclectic on the rhythm structure/sounds.

A very cool, scatterlogical release from the brilliant Bonus Round label that's not only diverse and challenging, but insanely catchy and funky. Spangfunk, by any other name...

National Film Center, Tokyo

Located in Kyobashi, right next door to Ginza and just a one-minute walk from Kyōbashi Station, is one of the strangely hidden gems of a city I still find intriguing eight years after I arrived.

The National Film Center is an integral part of the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, and the whole building here—first developed in 1970, then entirely rebuilt in 1995, to a design by architect Yoshinobu Ashihara, who built the nearby Sony Building—is a shrine to all things cinematic.

It’s dedicated to the preservation and research of cinema, is a full member of an outfit that's quite the mouthful to say out loud quickly—the Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF)—and last year's highlights were retrospectives of local auteur Masahiro Makino (2008 was the centenary year of his birth), along with prolific French writer/director Jean Renoir.

Also expect screenings of silent movies from the 1920s, by Teinosuke Kinugasa, through to more obscure classic Japanese cinema like Nigorie (1953), directed by Tadashi Imai—starring the sublime Chikage Awashima.

In addition, the 7th floor permanent exhibition includes books, posters, memorabilia and periodicals on cinema, in particular Japanese.

The collection also boasts that it includes 30,000 films, 20,000 books, 30,000 scripts, 42,000 posters and 372,000 still photos. I haven't bothered to count to check that these figure are accurate.

Luke's Anger

Just did this one with wunderbar British producer Luke Sanger (Luke's Anger) off Kid606's Tigerbass label:

Luke's Anger @ Fun in the Murky


'Nuff said.

Iffy Bizness: the Compilation

Well, after the unexpected craziness of losing the job-spot at Anime Insider (and the sad demise of the old dear herself, see entry below), I still have yet to hear officially from Wizard about my redundancy, so no "news" there. Would also like my last paycheck, too.

However, it's hanami season here in Tokyo, the cherry blossoms have poked out, as has the sun (finally!), and we're going to indulge in a bit of ale shortly; also some great news from Sydney: my favourite label, Elektrax, is going to release a compilation of IF? Records material called, appropriate enough, Iffy Bizness.

It'd be completely self-indulgent if I'd thought it up, but I'm not responsible this time—I have my great mate, DJ Hi-Shock, to thank for this little baby.

More news soon!