UKIP: A POTTED HISTORY

A guide to the origins and beliefs of England’s party for closet racists.

There seems to be no let-up in the the surge of popularity that has surrounded Nigel Farage and his boys in purple of late. Earlier this month the UK Independence Party, a party so right wing that even David Cameron described them as ‘A Bunch Of Fruitcakes, Loonies And Closet Racists’ forced the political establishment to pay them more serious attention when … SEE MORE

DAFT PUNK – RANDOM ACCESS MEMORIES

It was through snippets of half-truths and an unending trail of pseudo breadcrumbs that the initial speculation that French duo, Daft Punk were to record their generation transcending fourth LP came to the fore. It was then through drip-fed teasers at Coachella, shortly followed by a massive facepalm-of-a-leak that we heard the first product of this pledge: prickly disco primer ‘Get Lucky’. But some monolithic records are just not destined to be embargoed – shackled … SEE MORE

PALEMAN AT HAUS LIVERPOOL

If you haven’t heard of PALEMAN yet, get to know. One of the most exciting young producers to emerge from the UK underground over the last year or so, he has gained the support and recognition of scene luminaries such as Mary Anne Hobbs, Loefah and Zed Bias; an impressive pool of references for a lad who is still only nineteen. Though his DJ sets have people talking, his productions alone are the reason why … SEE MORE

THE MOUSE OUTFIT – ESCAPE MUSIC

De La Soul’s Maseo recently branded current hip hop “redundant” in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, arguing that everyone’s “just doing business” and “not really creating.” However, unbeknown to the ageing hip hop veteran, there’s a forward thinking Manchester collective going by the name of THE MOUSE OUTFIT, who are about to drop an LP which will directly contradict this audacious claim.

Often described as the UK’s answer to Breakestra, their explosive live … SEE MORE

GHOSTFACE KILLAH – TWELVE REASONS TO DIE

Ghostface Killah always seemed at home weaving his intricate mafioso rap amidst obscure 70s soul samples, and with ‘Twelve Reasons to Die’, he seems to have taken his approach to it’s logical conclusion. This time though, Ghost seems considerably more focused, and nowhere is that more evident than his smart decision to work with producer Adrian Younge. On previous efforts, Ghost has been content to divvy up his album production credits between hip-hop’s big names; … SEE MORE

QUASIMOTO – PLANNED ATTACK

The frighteningly prolific Madlib has been worryingly silent as of late, seeming to opt for production credits over recording original material under any of his many alter egos. That is until a recent leaked photograph of a test pressing of supposedly new album, Yessir, Whatever surfaced on the net, announcing its imminent release on June 18th, nearly 8 years since Further Adventures. Working under the guise of Quasimoto, his bizarre, helium pitch-shifted, 1 foot … SEE MORE

THE INTELLECTUAL GHETTO

ART BY ROB FINNEN

In higher education we indulge ourselves in an outrageous luxury. It’s a delicate lynchpin in any enviable society; the final mind-blowing episode in a process aiming to enlighten. So why, when evaluating my time at university do I feel somewhat unsatisfied? I recently learned that the word education derives from the verb ‘educe’, meaning ‘to draw from within’. What a beautiful notion. A process that exposes something you didn’t know you … SEE MORE

DAFT PUNK, UNLUCKY

The inevitable leak of Daft Punk’s ‘Get Lucky’

Daft Punk were always playing a dangerous game with the Random Access Memories slow-drip marketing campaign. Now they’ve finally come unstuck. The duo’s incessant distribution of Get Lucky mini-bites has wound up in a big fat leak.

Allegedly unmastered, the 4-minute radio edit (two minutes shorter than the album version) is a safe extension of the video teaser that tickled the Cochella masses a few days … SEE MORE

JAMES BLAKE – OVERGROWN

James Blake’s appreciation of dubstep pioneers is well-publicised, and those who caught his DJ set at Abandon Silence in December will know that concrete-heavy tunes like Mala’s ‘Earth a Run Red’ are a key element in his selections. Digital Mystikz once invited people to ‘Meditate on Bass Weight’ and opener Overgrown does just that, easing listeners in with a metronomic, rumbling bassline. Make no mistake though, there are no tear-out moments on this record, indeed, … SEE MORE

IS THATCHER DEAD?

THE IRON LADY DIES AGED 87:

A nation mourns/ celebrates/ admits to knowing little of the politics surrounding the debate, but condemns celebration of the death of an elderly lady from a stroke via social media anyway.

Margaret Thatcher left office some four months before I was born, yet the changes that she inflicted upon society remain – like it or not, my generation are Thatcher’s children. For many (White, Middle Class, Southern, Straight, not … SEE MORE

THE PIANO TEACHER

Erika’s a sex pest: it’s west but only the best from Haneke

In celebration of Haneke’s most recent oscar win, foreign tragedy Amour, I decided to shed light on another innovative masterpiece that similarly showcases his versatile, genius direction: The Piano Teacher (2001). Through the title alone, Haneke hints at the films intent: to portray human restraint: the pressures of being made to perform under a ‘label’ whilst under oppressive social norms and expectation.… SEE MORE

BILAL – A LOVE SURREAL

R&B has been dominated by some notable fresh faces of late. Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and Miguel have between them accumulated enough commercial and critical success to transform the genre for good. Into this brave new world steps Bilal, a veteren of the late-90s neo-soul wave and apparently a man of diverse influence. A Love Surreal opens with West Side Girl, a track which perfectly captures the dry, raw groove of Riot Goin’ … SEE MORE

GENERATION FUCKED

I’m definitely not a fiscal expert or an authority on the causes or remedies for youth unemployment, but the discovery that media and commentators alike had tarried the youth of today as the ‘Lost Generation’ struck me as slightly harrowing- they might as well of referred to us as ‘Generation Fucked’.

 The term ‘Lost Generation’ was originally coined by Gertrude Stein and was used in an epigraph for Ernest Hemingway’s first novel The Sun Also … SEE MORE

JOHN GRANT – PALE GREEN GHOSTS

John Grant is an unlikely but entirely appropriate American hero for our times. Openly gay, fiercely resentful and deleteriously self loathing, Grant is a crooning storm of forthright expression, and the antithesis of a marketable solo artist. Despite the odds against him, Grant’s debut solo album, Queen of Denmark, found a sizeable audience, propelling him into the realms of moderate success following his ten year stint as frontman for the miserably under-appreciated The Czars.

The … SEE MORE

AUTECHRE – EXAI

Autechre are not a group known for their broad appeal, nor are they known for doing things by half. Exai, the band’s 11^th studio album (a dot in a career splattered with equally essential EPs and remix albums) is a perfect realisation of their oddly isolationist philosophy.

7 seconds of silence precedes opener, Fleure, which immediately gets down to the tricky business of building an acceptable piece of music from nothing more … SEE MORE

REVIEW: WAXXX IMPROMPTU #1

It’s 6pm on a Tuesday evening and I’m submerged in my dull and perpetual workload, when a vibration on the desk alerts me to a Facebook invite on my iPhone, suddenly arousing my interest, in an otherwise uneventful day at the office.

It’s an invite to Waxxx Impromptu.

Now I know it’s a Tuesday and yes, I’ve got a million things to do tomorrow, but there’s two things I like; Waxxx and parties. And the … SEE MORE

THE GARDEN FESTIVAL IS BACK

As 2013 continues to race along, The Garden Festival is proud to announce its next wave of guest names gracing the idyllic Dalmatian coastline this summer. There’s also further exciting news as the Argonaughty and Barbarellas Discotheque crews are revealed too. The Garden Tisno, nestled along the azure Adriatic, is a truly beautiful site which will host global Gardeners seeking a week of fun and adventure, dancing under the sun and star-speckled skies, part of … SEE MORE

A TRIBE CALLED QUEST AT WIRELESS

Wireless festival gained another big act yesterday, in the form of legendary New York hip-hop crew, A Tribe Called Quest. The news has delighted UK fans of the group, who make it their first appearance on these shores for nearly 20 years. Tribe are probably best known, along with fellow Native Tongues members De La Soul & Black Sheep, for their positive message, which frequently eschewed that typical 90′s gangsta rap sentiment for a more … SEE MORE

LIFT-OFF FILM FESTIVAL

Entering its third year, Lift-Off Film Festival has grown from a small screening of independent films into a transatlantic exhibition, showcasing the talents of student and professional filmmakers alike to audiences in London, LA, Las Vegas and Liverpool. Conceived in May 2011 by James Alexander and Ben Pohlman, the festival provides a much needed alternative to the constant stream of mindless cheese spewed from the Hollywood gullet and from the hollow, over-stylised nonsense that dominates the … SEE MORE

THE ASPHODELLS – RULED BY PASSION, DESTROYED BY LUST

Ever since the prolific Shoom DJ, Andrew Weatherall took to the studio he has blessed countless musicians with his Midas touch. Though being more than able to work alone, his bass-driven chef-d’oeuvre Feathers attests to this, he works best alongside others. The man’s unrivalled understanding of music’s basic elements has allowed him to refine and master the talent of countless artists over the years. However, the Lord Sabre always infects the production with his own distinct sound … SEE MORE

WAXXX FAIR

The first WAXXX FAIR is going to be something of an extravaganza. We found some people willing to loan us some funfair stuff, we have a number of amazing fair stalls including a really shitty coconut shy, food stalls and some secret stuff that we want to surprise you with.

Sideshows at the fair include:

Boddika (Nonplus Records) … http://soundcloud.com/boddika

Levon Vincent (Novel Sound) http://boilerroom.tv/levon-vincent-60-min-mix/

Church Presents: https://www.facebook.com/churchofficial

Loefah (Swamp 81) http://soundcloud.com/… SEE MORE

WAXXXIN’ LYRICAL – A BAD LYRICS GUIDE

One Direction – “The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed”

These lyrics are indicative of One Direction’s fetishistic obsession with ‘hair-flipping’. Like the rest of the song, this line is covertly expressive of One Direction’s ravenous sexual appetite for stalking women. By listing the attributes of the victim which make them most randy, they hope to in some way justify the kidnap and torture that inevitably follows.

Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars… SEE MORE

ATOMS FOR PEACE – AMOK

With the 2 year dust barely settling on King of Limbs, Thom Yorke’s latest offering Amok is a confused and broken listen, yet it feels all the more enjoyable because of it. Atoms for Peace (featuring super producer Nigel Godrich and, perhaps oddly, Flea) are the new guise Yorke is using to release music, initially, it may seem unnecessary for him to have created a new moniker for this, but it’s a decision that … SEE MORE

KERLI – UTOPIA

A vision in pastels and platforms, Kerli, an Estonian singer living in America, is becoming something of a sensation. Well, that’s one way to say it. A self-proclaimed ‘Bubble Goth”, she looks like a cross between an angry teenager from about ten years ago and My Little Pony. My fourteen-year-old self would have adored her.

There was a debate on Facebook over the Goth-credibility of Kerli, “Goth isn’t a fashion statement/it’s a state of mind” … SEE MORE

LAPALUX – NOSTALCHIC

Hailing from humble beginnings straight out of Essex and still only in his twenties, Stuart Howard- also known as Lapalux- is the only British signing to co-exist alongside the likes of heavyweights to the genre Martyn and Thundercat, upon the impressive roster of FlyLo’s Brainfeeder label.

Having remixed Bonobo to melodic levels and turned Lianne La Havas’s ‘Lost & Found’ into a smooth, chopped ‘n’ screwed number whilst still retaining sentiment, Howard finally releases his … SEE MORE

MY BLOODY VALENTINE – M B V

In the digital age, writing, recording, mastering and releasing music is quicker and easier than ever before. The pop landscape is overrun with exciting new producers and writers, releasing content independently, bypassing major labels and establishing fanbases on the back of their own diligence. So why the hell did it take My Bloody Valentine, and more precisely, their talismanic leader, Kevin Shields, 22 years to write, record, master and release a follow up to their … SEE MORE

PRO ERA – PEEP THE APROCALYPSE

2012 has undeniably been an incredible year for hip-hop, and at the forefront are New Yorkers Pro-Era. The group (consisting of Joey Bada$$, Nyck Caution, Rokamouth, Dyemond Lewis, CJ Fly, Kirk Knight and Capital Steez, amongst others) gained popularity, FAST, culminating in the release of their free mixtape last December, Peep – The Aprocalypse. Make no mistake, this is dirty, gritty New York hip hop, self referential (opener ‘Like Water’ samples Nas’ Illmatic classic, It Ain’t … SEE MORE

BOLD ST BELL ENDZ

Bold Street. The bohemian string in Liverpool’s…cello? Yeah, I think to myself; Cello. I pause by the bookshop and light a cigarette. I inhale my first drag of the day deeply and then blow smoke plumes into the blue sky above. The nicotine rush makes my legs shiver slightly. I take off my leather stetson and feel the breeze ruffling my warm damp hair. People are looking at me. I pretend not to notice. I … SEE MORE

ALLEN&HUTCH

Here’s our resisdent DJ’s, Jimmy Allen & Mr Paul laying down a mix for our good friends over at Sessions Faction. Enjoy. xxx

 … SEE MORE

A TOR OF THE UNDERGROUND WEB

In the deep, dark depths of the Internet, hidden from Google’s all-seeing eye, lies the Silk Road: It’s a black-market-Amazon, within which normal ideas of an internet marketplace disappear into a murk of encrypted currency and illegal contraband.

The website has perhaps brought more attention to the existence of ‘the Deep Web’ than anything else before or after it. The Deep Web, though it sounds menacing, is essentially an umbrella term for the online content … SEE MORE

FUCKED UP FAITH

Feeling spiritually at sea? Lost in a world of dirt and sin? Is your dirty soul in need of being saved by someone truly worthy, someone who understands you, and who will love you conditionally? Then stay the fuck away from these bizarre cults and religions. You might end up feeling even worse than you already do. Bloody sinner.

CHURCH OF EUTHANASIA

Are you worried about the Earth’s sustainability? Is the non-stop drone of mothers … SEE MORE

A WAXXX GUIDE TO A MORE UNITED KINGDOM

So the decade is three years old, and what a momentous three they have been. 2010 set the tone quite nicely; the Tories were back, and in true 1980s fashion you either became an entrepreneur selling ‘Keep Calm and Carry On*’ merchandise, or you stood at the back of the dole queue with Yosser Hughes, as youth unemployment soared.

The events of 2011 confounded this hypothesis: if you were not part of the regalophiles pouring … SEE MORE

THE BAD PUB GUIDE

The pubs in this guide are bleak, volatile and often genuinely unpleasant. These are bad pubs for bad people. These are pubs for people who have been barred from everywhere else. Luckily for you our resident lowlife specialist, Stephen Baxendale, has been barred from everywhere else. Twice over. We sent him to visit three of Liverpool’s seediest boozers so that you don’t have to. Aren’t we kind? Be grateful…

If you like visiting ‘nice’ pubs … SEE MORE

ALONE

I had this pain in my head. For a while it was just coming from my tooth, but by this point it’d crawled up and down the whole side of my face. I’d had tooth ache before, but this was something different, I was sure of it. There was a constant hot and stabbing pain that kept me from sleeping. Then occasionally the whole side of my head would explode in pain and I’d start … SEE MORE

LISTEN!

Listen. I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the others.

On the way home from work I stopped off at CHICKEN PALACE for one of their £1 snack boxes. The snack box is made of flimsy paper, a few undefinable pieces of deep fried meat are thrown in and then the box is crammed to the brim with fries that have been fried and refried over and over throughout the night.

‘Two pounds,’ the … SEE MORE

50 CUPS OF SEXY BLACK COFFEE

I can’t remember the first time I had sex with Mrs Black. Literally. I came into her office and she offered me what I thought was a cough sweet. I was just a shy and sexually inexperienced office intern at the time, so, like an idiot, I took it.

I woke up naked, three days later. Mrs Black was sat in the corner wearing nothing but a grin and smoking a fat Cuban cigar. ‘Was … SEE MORE

NO

Released: 8th February

Just as America pats itself on the back for having outlawed slavery via Lincoln (thirty odd years after Britain…but who’s counting?), No reminds us of the USA’s more recent dirty exploits in Chile. The film stars Mexico’s sweetheart, Gael Garcia Bernal, as an advertising agent who begins a campaign to encourage a nationwide rebuttal of Pinochet’s ‘American sponsored’ dictatorship in the 1988 Chilean national plebiscite.

If you’re a deluded, peace-hatin’, commie-slappin’ Yankee…give … SEE MORE

2012 FILM REVIEW

It’s 2013. Let me be the first to congratulate you on ‘making it’. Twelve solid months of catastrophes, terrorist skirmishes, road rage, foretold apocalypses…and yet somehow you remain unscathed. The colliding fates of the universe rained down all around you, millions of creatures, immeasurably more significant than you, died in each passing second of the 31,536,000 that constituted 2012. In short, your still-beating heart is miraculous. And yet, despite all this, you have wasted several … SEE MORE

LINCOLN

Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Released: January 25th

It was while watching the ending scenes of Munich, popcorn spilling out of my open mouth, that I made the mental oath never to watch a historical epic by Spielberg again. Seeing Eric Bana, mid-thrust – and presumably orgasm – crying out in horror as he imagines the Munich massacre, gunfire illuminating his contorted, sweaty face, was enough to put me off for life. Over-sentimentalising his films has … SEE MORE

WAXXX HORIZON FESTIVAL LAUNCH PARTY

we’re going skiing. you should like totally come too. to celebrate us hosting a stage at Horizon Festival we’re throwing another party. fortunately for you, we’re giving you a bit more notice this time round.

Waxxx at Horizon Festival will feature two of our most favourite DJs from the festival, eliphino and ossie, whilst the second room is taken over by the dead boss ‘sick chirpse’.

of course, we’ll do all the usual unusual props … SEE MORE