R.I.P. Roc Raida

New just in…

Sad to hear that Roc Raida of the X-Ecutioners has passed away.   A family statement reads;

“Anthony Williams p/k to the world as The Legendary Grandmaster Roc Raida has passed away unexpectedly today September 19 2009. He is survived by his wife, three lovely daughters, mother and friends. Raida was recently in an mixed martial arts accident, something that he has been practicing for several years. Although he had under gone two surgeries with great success,  was released to an inpatient physical therapy facility and was in great spirits the past few days. This morning he started to have complications and passed. The family asks for privacy at this time.”

R.I.P.

The Weekend Has Landed

Well. It’s Friday. Thank god. The first week back at work is always an absolute ball ache even more so when the majority of it is spent in a server room pissing about with firewalls in close to sub zero temperatures. I swear at one point a penguin pulled my cabling out.

What to do now the weekend is finally here? Xbox? MAME record attempts? Piano practice? Veg in front of the TV. The latter will most certainly be on the agenda on Sunday as it’s the Manchester derby.

City are looking good so far this season but Adebayor, their star player of the season so far, is suspended so I’m predicting a 2-1 victory for United. However, I expect City to score first as United never make it easy for themselves. Who do I have down to open the scoring for City? Oh, Tevez of course.

MAME WR No. 3 – 10-Yard Fight

After the not so good 005, we move on to a classic (at least on the NES), 10-Yard Fight.  Developed by IREM in 1983 10-Yard Fight was allegedly the first slightly realistic American football video game ever released.  You start the game as the offense and the goal (no pun intended) is to score a touchdown in the time allotted to go from high school and college ball all the way to the Pros and the Super Bowl.

The Arcade World Record is 295,100 and is held by Mike Macy.
The MAME World Record is 258,250 and is held by Kirby Laurence.

These are darn high considering the machine’s high score is 36,500.

So we begin…

Continue reading “MAME WR No. 3 – 10-Yard Fight”

If You Buy Any Music This Week…

…make sure it’s;

Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure

Following on from their excellent debut, Attack Decay Sustain Release, sees Messrs Ford and Shaw upping the guest quota this time round.  Beth Ditto (showing she can effortlessly do disco diva as well as rock chick), Jamie Lidell, Yeasyer’s Chris Keating and Super Furry’s Gruff all helping make their associated tracks standouts.  The latter two’s nonsense rhymes, “She was a power station leaking radiation and it got right under my skin” and “I got that grape kool-aid filled swimming pool” being particular highlights.  The Todd Rundgren sampling Synthesise still sounds just as good as when it first surfaced in May so it’s a shame that Bad Blood with Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor and Ambulance featuring Telepathe bring the the album to a somewhat forgettable close. A tad pedestrian towards the end and missing a manic moment like Tits and Acid from it’s predecessor but a Simian Mobile Disco album firing on 2 of 3 cylinders is still a worthwhile purchase.


Soulsavers – Broken

How is it that a UK based production team can seemingly make authentically fantastic Gothic drenched gospel tinged Americana?  By roping in Mark Lanegen as a collaborator is how.  On the face of it, the Soulsaver’s third album feels more of an extension of their last but with more guests (Mike Patton, Richard Hawley, Jason Pierce amongst others) and the guitars brought to the fore makes for a more rounded effort.  Not that “It’s Not How Far You Fall…” was particularly shoddy.  It’s still very much Lanegan’s show though with him being on 9 of the 13 tracks.  This is a good thing by the way.  Now bring on Leeds Festival.

Soulsavers – Death Bells

Them Crooked Vultures

I’m not normally one to get excited by supergroups.  They merely serve to disappoint.  OK, there are the notable exceptions, Cream and Velvet Revolver, Good, The Bad and The Queen, being examples.  However, Audioslave, Zwan and many others litter the highway of unfulfilled potential.  Well next on the supergroup conveyor belt is Them Crooked Vultures.    Formed by Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones you’d expect it to be nothing short then brilliant. Dave Grohl is on record stating “”The next project that I’m trying to initiate involves me on drums, Josh Homme on guitar, and John Paul Jones playing bass. That’s the next album. That wouldn’t suck.”

Judging by the recent 14 second clip on the official website and the fan recorded snippets of their first gig on YouTube, he could be right on the money.

Rumour has it that they may put in an special appearance at Leeds and Reading which makes sense seeing as EoDM, Mark Lanegen, and Homme’s wifey is there with Spinnerette it’s not much of a long shot. If they do I’ll be a happy man. Provided I don’t miss it…