I love mashups when they do something really simple and really smart. Tim Bowman’s clear little mashup takes the technology behind Last.fm to recommend a whole load of videos for you to watch from You Tube. You simply type in an artist or a last.fm username and you get an instant video channel, rather than just listening to a a bunch of audio clips! It works pretty well, in the example (below) I put in 70’s UK art-punks Wire and got 70’s US art-punks Per Ubu! If you want to see what I’d recommend just type in nickwatt into the search box! Go check it out here

After digging out my Desperate Bicycles records I decided to hunt out my copy of the first single by Scritti Politti. If that name seem familiar it may be from the hits they had in the mid 80s with singles such as Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin) or The Word Girl, or you may even know the blissfull The “Sweetest Girl”, which got to the giddy heights of number 64 in the UK charts back in 1981 (the song was also the opening track on the NME’s C81 cassette which citizen Bay has been digging big time of late). However, before the band became an intellectual pop band much beloved by certain factions of the UK music press, they made a series of independently make scratchy DIY punk records. Scritti founder and current Dalston resident Green Gartside saw the Sex Pistols on the opening night of the Sex Pistols ‘Anarchy’ tour at Leeds University, and decided to form a band.

The band came to London in 1977, moving into a legendary squat in Regent’s Park Road in Camden Town. Scritti Politti were galvanised into actiom the Desperate Bicycles and released their first DIY single, titled ‘Skank Bloc Bologna’ on their own St. Pancras label in 1978. The inside of the sleeve included information on the cost to make the single - recording (£98), mastering (£40), pressing (2,500 7 inch singles for £369.36) , Rubber Stamp and labels (£8), plus information on their distributor Rough Trade Records, then still a record shop in Notting Hill. And just in case you didn’t get the idea he first time around, they printed the costs of producing the John Peel sessions EP on that cover as well.

Green notoriously hates the bands early records, which he claimed “sounds like some anti-produced labour of negativity”, but he finally relented and let his label Rough Trade reissue “Skank Bloc Bologna” on the compilation Early, which brings together the bands first four singles and EPs. The album is available for download at emusic, or you can buy the album from the Rough Trade shop here, for the bargain price of only £6.99!

I came across a great blog called Little Hits last night. Each week or so they post up a favourite track from often long forgotten records, the majority being from the punk and post punk era. As the site’s owners are based in the US it’s quite amazing how many obscure British punk and indie records they managed to get their hands on! You can listen to all the tracks they write about on the site, and if like me you are of a certain age, listened to Peel nightly in the late 1970s and early 80s, and bought lots of obscure 7 inch singles, this will be a great trip down memory lane.

One of the featured tracks on the site is by the wonderful Desperate Bicycles. I can still remember hearing the band on John Peel’s Radio 1 show. Their first session consisted of four tracks, one a version of their début single Smokescreen which lasted all of 50 seconds (the single version was padded out to a progtastic 2 minutes). The band managed to press up 1500 copies of the single, with money from the first 500 records being used to press up and distribute the next 1000. Fortunately I’m a proud owner of said single, bought back in the day from the New Record Inn in Sunderland.

One of my favourite singles by the band was their sophomore effort The Medium Was Tedium. The playing on the record makes many of their punk contemporaries sound like ELP, even the mighty Fall sound competent in comparison. But the brilliance of song was its hook, which extolled “It was easy, it was cheap, go and do it”. And it was. And we did. This was the DIY punk ethic in action. The sleeve detailed the cost to record, press and distribute Smokescreen was a massive £153, (probably a few grand in today’s money). It’s amazing to think that 30 years later the total cost to make, distribute and market your own DIY release can be virtually zero! Sadly Desperate Bicycles founder Danny Wigley has resisted the reissue of any of the bands music, but if you fancy taking a trip down memory lane, or want to hear what all the fuss was about back in 1977, you can hear much of the bands recorded output here.

citizensound bumped into Steve King recently, and he kindly gave us his five recommendations. Some classic choices in this list, along with a surprise or two from the Global CEO of Zenith Optimedia!

Thanks Steve. 

1    Favourite album at the moment?
The Clash - London Calling. Of current albums probably Mark Ronson latest mix.

2. A song that always makes you smile?
Bob Marley - Redemption Song

3. Favourite recent gig?
Spice Girls at The 02! Took my daughters and actually enjoyed the show. Also saw Rolling Stones at same venue few weeks before - probably best I've seen them play.

4. Song you couldn't resist singing or humming along to loudly, even  though you're wearing your headphones?
American Pie. Don Mclean - played endlessly on long family car journeys.

5. Greatest party record of all time? Sexual Healing - Marvin Gaye - only because I'm such a naturally good disco dancer.

Met up with Wayne Arnold recently, who provided me with these recommendations

 1. Favourite album at the moment?
The Hours - Narcissus Road.

“With lines like " I can understand how someone can go over to the dark side cause the devil he's got all the tunes" you can’t go wrong!” says Wayne

2. A song that always makes you smile?

AC/DC - Back in Black

“Great guitar intro and completely pointless and incomprehensible lyrics”

3. Favourite recent gig?

The Sunshine Underground. “Brilliant songs and loads of energy”

4. Song you couldn't resist singing or humming along to loudly, even though you're wearing your headphones?

I dare anyone from our music generation to listen to Oasis classic - Don't Look Back in Anger and not hum along to that chorus”

5. Greatest party record of all time?

Steve Wonder – Superstition

“works for everything from a cool remix in a club to a cheesy wedding”

Citizensound met up with Findlay Brown last week at his residency at the Gladstone pub in South London. It was brilliant evening, with lot's of new songs on show. I'm not sure if it's working with a band, but his music seems to have broadened out a lot. At times, Fin's vocals reminded me of the legendary Gene Clark, while some of the new tracks seemed to go even further back than the Byrd's for inspiration, with echoes of Roy Orbison in new song "Love Will Find Me". You can check out the demos of a couple of his new tracks on his myspace page. 

Favourite album at the moment?

Born To Be With You by Dion

A song that always makes you smile?

"Be My Baby" by The Ronettes.

Favorite recent gig? 

The Moon Music Orchestra at the Gladstone Arms London

Song you couldn't resist singing or humming along to loudly, even though you're wearing your headphones?

"Fill Your Heart" by Biff Rose

Greatest party record of all time?

"Hot Pants" by James Brown

 Thanks Findlay, we look forward to seeing him play live in the not too distant future.

Paul Martin has recently become a fellow citizen. I have known Paul since the mid 80s, and just keep on connecting through music. He has been helping artists develop their sound for over 20 years, at labels such as Talking Loud, Gut records and V2, as well as releasing his own music as Interfearence. Here are his favourites for you…enjoy.

Favourite album at the moment? : Great Vengence and Furious Fire - The Heavy on Counter Records 

A song that makes you smile? People Can Be So Ugly – Three Dog Night

Favourite recent gig?  Jose James at Cargo (ed: Jose James! Yes!)

Song you couldn't resist singing or humming along to loudly, even though you're wearing your iPod? Cold Cold World – Teddy Pendergrass

Greatest party record of all time? TROY (They Reminisce Over You) – Pete Rock

 Thanks Paul!

We met up with those lovely people from Profero recently. Great fun. Whilst there we asked Liz Sivell, Associate Creative Director of Profero to let us know what music she would recommend. Here are her answers:

Favourite album at the moment? Eyes Open - Snow Patrol

A song that makes you smile? London Still - The Waifs

Favourite recent gig? Sneaky Sound System, Australia

Song you couldn't resist singing or humming along to loudly, even though you're wearing your iPod? That’s hard, embarrassing to say I do it all the time!

Greatest party record of all time, and why? Waterfall - Atlantic Ocean. This was my first party tune in my raving days, always puts a smile on my face!

This is the first in an on-going series of tips from nice people. Thanks Liz…