new steinski comp/retrospective

I must have received the same e-mail. It was nice of them to provide an MP3 link to "The Payoff Mix", and a major surprise that they got copyright clearance for a legal release of this stuff.

The Motorcade Sped On = genius

pssst.
no clearance.
i've been asked to keep that whole side of the game hush hush.

I got "The Motorcade Sped On" when it came on that free single on the front of the NME. If these sales had counted towards the charts (and I think the NME was still selling 150,000 or thereabouts at the time) it probably would have beaten "Lady In Red" to number one.

yeah in all the mentions of the NME disc, its always refered to as a flexidisc.
pah.
mines hardcore black vinyl
- so dont understand why they keep saying it was a flexi.

its hard to keep up with all these hip hop reissues.

I just have The Payoff and Lessons 2 and 3 on an old cassette somewhere (taped from my university radio station). Awesome mixes I recall.

I taped "The Payoff Mix" off the radio in Spring 1984, when it was played on an absolutely fantastic West Berlin dance music radio show called "Studio 89". (It used to broadcast from around 11pm on Saturday nights, just when I was getting ready to go clubbing.) Unfortunately, the DJ decided to superimpose a 45-slowed-to-33 chunk of Lionel Richie's "Hello" for a few seconds in the middle, and it wasn't until the dawn of Napster that I was able to hear the track as originally intended.

Who's the contact?

It's on Illegal Art, guys. Of course, no clearance

I'm hurting that "We'll Be Right Back" is not on there. That might be Steinki's bestest jam ever. Apparantly Island Records funded it back in the day then Ovaltine licensed it.

Could one write a story on this and NOT mention clearance issues?

what with this and the Girl Talk album looks like IA are looking for trouble.
then again, are the labels too busy fussing over P2P/restructuring/layoffs etc etc to give a shit in 2008 over a little sampling these days ?

Depends on how much you sell and how high your profile the release is.

IOW there isn't much point in sending in the lawyers over a 500 pressing 12" release, or 1000 cd's marketed towards music nerds.

woah awes. i got the lessons and 'motorcade', had no idea they'd done so much.

Scott, speaking of "The Sugar Hill Suite," have you heard Burning Out Of Control, his album-length Sugar Hill mix? Def not just their standard greatest hits material-wise, and o course he does it his way.

Scott, speaking of "The Sugar Hill Suite," have you heard Burning Out Of Control, his album-length Sugar Hill mix? Def not just their standard greatest hits material-wise, and o course he does it his way.

absolutely great album, and given that the antidote label is no more, it will become harder to get, so pick it up when you see it.

I would do anything to hear "We'll Be Right Back." right now. The YouTube has been taken down, Google is no help, SoulSeek is no help. I'm about to go big on some vinyl or something.

I'm hurting, guys. Can anyone help?

Here you go, it's the re-edit.

http://download.yousendit.com/9B1569D25D0B2122

rebop for mvp.

this is the version i remember too!

Also, on his site, he offers to send links for a couple of album-length mixes(he sent 'em to me soon as I asked)

Someone up "Let's Play It Cool" now!

Update: Whiney G's got the whole thing on PaperThinWalls now, with Steinski's comments on each track:
http://www.paperthinwalls.com/listeningparty/index?id=75

downloading cd1 from emusic as we speak!! excited!!

amaaaaazing

the 60 minute live set recorded when Steinski and Double Dee supported Shadow/Chemist is brilliant and full of new material.
(and a mere $5 for 320kbps)
45 Kings, The 900 Number, done in big band style knocks it into the "totally essential folder" despite being only a mere 45 seconds long.

I should really hear Nothing To Fear, didn't he say it took him five years or something? maybe I'll buy this. already got mp3's of most of disc 1 though

Someone up "Let's Play It Cool" now!

also, I missed this .... stay tuned Whiney

I should really hear Nothing To Fear, didn't he say it took him five years or something?

yes you should.
not 3 years - 18 months.
easily one of my fave mixes.

"when coldcut offered me some time on their show, i figured i'd do an hour-long mix of the sort i used to do when i had a weekly show on wfmu; about 30 hours of work culminating in a pleasant sludge of a lot of diverse music and spoken word. then it occurred to me that for solid steel this was no big deal, and besides - no one was tuning into coldcut's show to hear full songs of bluegrass bands or cantorial music.

my friend alex heard my early stabs at this and urged: "stein, make it yours!" so i started making it mine. it was the first time i'd undertaken a sizable creative effort without having to meet a client's expectations, and without a deadline. it took me 18 months, and i have to say that it was the happiest i've ever been as an adult. it's still one of the only things i've done that i can listen to without cringing.
"

wonder if any of those WFMU shows are kicking around

why the f*ck doesn't steinski get it going more ..

(that's only last year's brief return to FMU tho)

Isn't there a WFMU streaming archive of his show? Anyway, on his site, he's been offering to send links for a couple of full-length mixes, so I asked and he sent 'em, though I haven't had time to listen yet.

Yep, here:
http://wfmu.org/playlists/SQ

Why do people often say that "The Motorcade Sped On" was a flexi? The pitchfork review today repeats this and it's wrong.

Because it came with an issue of NME?

Actually I knew full well why they say it but the NME regurlarly gave away hard vinyl singles and that was one of 'em.

So am I the only one who has mixed feelings about the JFK and 9-11 collages? (Lots of the rest is as amazing as people say, though):

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/06/steve-stein-aka.html#more

You describe the 9-11 one as being "widely praised" in the piece, but I'm unaware of it ever having been released before - perhaps mixed feelings will become apparent once people hear it for the first time?

I heard it for the first time in 1991 on this (great) plundercomp: http://www.discogs.com/release/186810

I like it because it's so shamelessly button-pushing, but then again I find Negativland 'stomachable'

I think "The Motorcade Sped On" is kind of amazing because it should be so corny and awful but somehow winds up being affecting. It's got a very strange emotional stance, since the beats conjure up something more celebratory. But I can also easily imagine why someone wouldn't like it.

I heard it for the first time in 1991 on this (great) plundercomp:

This seems, to put it lightly, unlikely.

no steinski really was that ahead of his time. sorry about the crossed wires, I was only talking about the JFK piece, but thanks for getting me to drag out that Sucking Chest Wound record again, 'God Family Country' has some moments

chuck he does have an point about how your sentence's pairing of those two pieces ends up attributing wide praise to an unreleased piece, you should totally hire this guy

So the only place to get it is here?

http://illegalart.net/webshop/section.php?section=illegalart

in the uk - yup.
i checked with the label and no plans to make available in uk - yet.

attributing wide praise to an unreleased piece,

Except it's not unreleased anymore, duh. And I still haven't heard anybody criticise it much --though yeah, I was probably mainly referring there to the motorcade track, which people seem to really love.
Anyway, here's some acclaim for the 9-11 one:

Unlike "The Motorcade Sped On," "Number Three On Flight Eleven" is sincere, and incredibly moving. It also shows how much Steinski has grown during his career, becoming more of a sound artist than a mere remixer or DJ

http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/2008_06_whatdoesitallmean.html

"Number Three on Flight Eleven", which weaves audio of Betty Ong's cell phone call from United Flight 11 on 9/11 into an unsettling, ambient Eno-esque dirge

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/50729-what-does-it-all-mean-1983-2006-retrospective

Number Three On Flight Eleven… creepy and probably my favorite track.

It's all good. but
yeah, "Number Three On Flight Eleven" is amazing.

http://www.paperthinwalls.com/listeningparty/index?id=75

While "Number Three..." doesn't burn with the same ferocity as "Motorcade," its unsettling atmospheric tones and mixture of prose and emergency call samples come together to create a raw and challenging listen--not a song to enjoy, but a piece of art to experience.

http://30music.com/rev.php?rev=2517&mode

i don't care for the jkf or 9/11 ones either. who needs them? i rarely like political/topical sampling though. unlss it's mr.jaws. just reminds me of cabaret voltaire or ministry or something. one good vocal sample of george bush or whoever is fine, but a thematic piece based on one thing usually bores me. i did like that pepsi album that negativeland did though. and there are probably other examples.

How do you guys feel about Paul Hardcastle?

I don't particularly give a shit about the way explicit political points re typically injected into/via poprocketc music, but these pieces are something else, the associative powers of *music* gathering, and affecting as hell,in more ways than one (good as anything on the xxhuxx-selected Voice comp, Love Songs For New York [sorry if it's "From," my copy's elsewhere], and that's saying a lot). And I think I'd be saying that even if I weren't old enough to remember both events too well. I do think the BBC mix on Disc 2 lags in there somewhere, though it gets a second wind (and "THAT's my name!" I'll never forget that guy...ditto the Junk Mix of "Solid Air," and "It was nice, not knowing you," etc etc

not sure how i feel about steinski's 9/11 collage -- just heard it for the first time today. disturbing, but that's obvious -- how could it not be? it's def. jarring being in the midst of all these fun jams (the jfk thing notwithstanding). but i certainly don't begrudge the guy for doing the 9/11 piece -- this is his art. he can address whatever issues he wants.

Yeah, and most people (at the time and ever since) experienced those (sequences, shards etc) of events mostly via media, even eyewitnesses were significantly affected by the media lens, one way (or five or six or) the other, which is something singer-songwriter-etcs can't come to grips with, but it's a natural for Steinski.

yeah, i just listened to it again (i'm apparently a glutton for emotional punishment) and it works better as a standalone track instead of in the context of the comp.

I shouldn't say singer-songwriters-etc *can't* come to grips with the media primacy--a successful attempt, far as it goes(& mostly in the lyrics), is that Mollys song I wrote about in Voice, with the "I" eye, full of involuntary afterimages (incl various traces of ID) of fade-in/fade-out cycles of "murder scene, coutroom spectacle...Medea-/media-shaped dreams"--but it's hard to do (for anybody)

Those quotes are my lines, the Mollys' words are better.

good as anything on the xxhuxx-selected Voice comp, Love Songs For New York

Well....maybe as good as half of it. (Not better than the Peter Stampfel or Gogol Bordello tracks.) But yeah, it would have fit fine on that -- maybe in between Moby and Cornershop, or between Matthew Shipp and Lenny Dee. (But then, I haven't played that CD in a while, either. Even if I did select the songs on it. I hope other people still like it. But honestly, most of the songs I really wanted to include were by no-name artists who the Voice nixed, maybe understandably since bigger names would theoretically help them raise money for survivors more than no-names. Someday maybe I'll make a CD-R.)

In case people don't know what we're talking about:

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Songs-York-Wish-Were/dp/B000063DH7

Honestly have to say I'm not disturbed, jarred, unsettled, or incredibly moved by any of those or by the Steinski track, though. (And though I suppose I like Paul Hardcastle's "19," I mainly just think it's funny.) My favorite 9-11 song (and the one that unsettled me the most at the time, partly because it pissed me off) might be by Toby Keith, but what do I know. (I like Alan Jackson's, too. And to hell with anybody who says I'm just challoping.)

TS: the Steinski 9/11 track vs Jimmy Cauty's Blacksmoke remix of We Used To Be Friends by the Dandy Warhols.

Found this for considerably less than HMV's ripoff £20 charge at Notting Hill MVE over the weekend.

"Number Three On Flight Eleven" I suspect is too upsetting to listen to more than once, but it must be heard at least once.

Anyone know the source of the "Only in New York" voice - naggingly familiar, as is the text, but I can't place either.

Hmmm...the words come from the song "When The Telephone Rings" by the Silos. I guess it's either Steinski himself or one of the Silos reading.

"Number Three On Flight Eleven" I suspect is too upsetting to listen to more than once, but it must be heard at least once.

^^

I kind of feel the same way about "The Motorcade Sped On".

both are political art par excellence, from where i stand--not that that's saying very much, admittedly. still, i listen to 'em in much the same way as i listen to early Tricky, i suppose: is good, unsettling, somewhat creepy music for when you feel the need for some self-flagellation of the soul. (also, not having experienced JFK's assasinaqtion in real time--much like Steinski himself, i bet--i can really appreciate the warped humor permeating the piece.)

Why hasn't this thing been sued out of existence yet???

I think the political piece of Steinski's which works most directly and immediately is the Bush Snr/Gulf War one "It's Up To You" - funny and sharp at the same time.

well, yeah, that one too--who could argue with classic Firesign Theatre samples, after all?

back on fire : http://www.steinski.com/blog/a_track_from_the_inauguration_with_apologies_to_rev_lowery/

Great work, as ever.

The Lowery speech was grievously underacknowledged in the news reports but I thought it was astonishing oratory (and he's 87!).

I look forward to Obama coming to Britain and proclaiming "We want Brown to stick around!"

Agreed - this is superb (and Rev L. was great anyway).

thanks for the link - i've been listening and being cheered by this all day. what's the gospel call and response sampled here?

yeah, terrific track.

Hadn't realised this was an illegal release. Glad I snapped up the used copy I found for $8.

illegal - but readily available in the shops. (standard product in fopp now)
guess copywrite/legal people have bigger fish to fry these days.

Real pirates instead of artful-pirates, I guess.

dope Hendrix mix up on Steinskis blog, get it while you can
http://www.steinski.com/blog/for-a-limited-time-only/

I will never listen to "Number Three On Flight Eleven."

http://www.emotty.com/images/emoticons/1043.png

I will never listen to "Number Three On Flight Eleven."

― Mr. Snrub, Wednesday, 15 December 2010 02:39 (1 hour ago) Bookmark

Your fucking loss.

Personally, I find all his historic jams and dj associated stuff fun and great and all, but if he only did stuff like 'Number Three...' I'd really love him.

gah, tricked by free emoticons again

this hendrix mix is great -- thanks for the tip.

yup it is.
i forgot to sub to the RSS feed so until this thread bump, had missed out on it.

wish it was longer tbh.

notice how in order to avoid run-ins with the hendrix estate, the whole thing has been crafted out of bootleg material.
app. the hendrix estate are hardcore when it comes to litigation.
(in which case, how did young gods get away with it for TV Sky, or was the sample use credited ?)