Totallyradio genre: breaks

What do Cheryl Cole, Ata Kak, Benjy B and will.i.am all have in common? They all appear on November’s edition of Footsteps... I’ve been on the move this month, so have been confined to a small helping of tracks on a USB. Think of this show as the musical equivalent of emptying the food cupboards and making a meal out of what’s left. Delicious.

Latest show with deep crust panic attack Dj Fiery Biscuits.

Japan Blues presents A Golden Hour Of EM Records. Major British record label EMI, the venerable British record monolith, ended thirteen years ago in a death by a thousand cuts, the charitable work of hedge funds, equity traders or whatever corporate cannibals like to call themselves. EM Records, from Japan however, over 25 years of age, forges on in rude health. Fiercely independent, forever artistically on the move, with the occasional hint of mischief. Having created a huge catalogue covering most genres imaginable, from Carnatic flute to musical saw, Joe Meek to steel pan dub disco, Czech jazz vocal to bicycle wheel gamelan - someone mention bagpipes? We could go on, and EM Records certainly will. Among a hall full of trophies, EM unearthed two lesser-known British classics, namely Steel An’ Skin and Brenda Ray - now both essentials in any human’s collection. What we at Japan Blues are here for today are naturally EM’s Japanese releases. Also a broad sweep: un-homogenised minyou (Japanese traditional folk), eccentric dub of various stripes, poetry and electronics, Japanese takes on blue grass, contemporary R’n’B, 80s DIY, jungle - best stop us, before we overheat the server. Listen with all three ears. You can’t beat EM, join EM.

The Damping Wells 155 with nickel plated dime bar Dj Fiery Biscuits.

How significant is a music genre? In the early to mid 1990s, a peculiar and vaguely described strand was believed to be forming in the central Tokyo district of Shibuya. Known mostly for its huge geometric pedestrian crossing, the station it adjoins had long been a meeting place for youth, often by Hachiko, the famous dog statue. Then possibly to rummage round the myriad record shops, eateries, or Mandarake for comics and toys. Possibly the town’s name being used for this micro trend was to label it as a hipster movement. Outside of Japan, it certainly vibrated with a new cool mystique, eventually attracting record labels from the UK and Europe. Using the latest sampler technology, combining a gamut of previously known styles, many tracks were assembled almost to see how many breaks could be crammed in. Jazz flavours went into the pot, 60s grooves, French styling, Brazilian rhythms or meat and potatoes breaks - maybe a smattering of B-boy flavouring. An early taste of this style was cooked up by Towa Tei, as a member of Deee-Lite, way back in 1990 with the “sampladelic” meisterwerk 'Groove Is In The Heart'. Ploughing a furrow apart from the blander downbeat or frenetic house of the west, somehow a peculiar Japanese aesthetic thrived in this brief moment. A loose canon, the leading lights may not have comfortably accepted their role, but from the underground up, Nobukazu Takemura, Tosh & Kudo, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and United Future Organisation were names that crept into foreigners’ wants lists and boxes.

Footsteps celebrates Supersonic Festival 2025 with an hour of music from some of that artists that featured on this year’s line-up. Supersonic is a three-day festival held in Digbeth, Birmingham. For twenty-two years, it’s been flying the flag for the avant-garde and experimental music scene worldwide. Read my review for last years edition here: https://offlicencemagazine.com/blog/supersonic-festival-2024-review For all things Supersonic: https://supersonicfestival.com/

Latest TDW with Dj Fiery Biscuits.

The Damping Wells 153 with seersucker pear plucker DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Haptic, Sarah Hughes, Plurals, Ban Hus, Ardler Saint, Marina Moore, Tuusmala, Secret Nuclear, Max Rompler, Raxmus, Katarina Gryval, and Ecka Liena.

Japan Blues Yakuza Show: Gangsters rule, no? If not, where have you been for the last ten years or so? But gangsters once ruled because they were “cool”. The history of cinema is peppered with bad guys who somehow elicit our sympathies, check any film noir, you can’t help rooting for the seemingly ruthless hoodlum who gets it in the end. And Japanese culture is no exception. The rugged thug (yakuza) is just as fragile as the rest of us, when the push comes. With a cherry-picking of samurai ethics, and straight old bully-boy behaviour, the fictionalised Japanese gangster suffers the same life struggles as any European or yank. And they’re not only men, there are many yakuza movies featuring katana wielding, and occasionally sadistic, women. And so the music - some singers were genuine hoods before they made the studio, others just had the right face for a celluloid gunsel. The two intersected, and became a popular side genre, and female actors stepped off the set and into recording too. The result is a moody brew, singing of their hardships, taking the wrong path in life, and fortitude against all odds.

The Damping Wells 152 with sabre toothed pilot light Dj Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Jessica Ackerley, Eli Wallace, Nads Spiro , Brighton Ambients, Deepkiss 720, Ban Hus, David K Frampton, Hanna Tuulikki, Starlite Motel and Alexander Holm. Nothing succeeds like a budgie scorned.

The Damping Wells 151 with deep fried paddling pool DJ Fiery Biscuits. Heavy feature for the Gaza With Love charity compilation albums in aid of PalMedAcademy. https://forgazawithlove.bandcamp.com/album/for-gaza-with-love-vol-ii

End of summer sad boy special. Featuring: a healthy dose of dub, mark e smith at his tender best and an ode to the blood of jesus.

A pre-bank holiday trip to JA/JP, merging the two island powerhouses' musical traditions into a killer-diller no filler mix of Japanese reggae - dairy free and made in a cheese free environment. From the early 60s cover of Millie Small's My Boy Lollipop, to the latest digi-minyou of Honjo Ushimatsu, with a slew of quirky, raw tunes in between.

August Footsteps smells Autumn on the horizon. The mood is one of reflection, the songs play out accordingly. In all of them there is sorrow, freedom, fear, and fury. Who the hell makes those missiles? Some technical difficulties were prominent during the last twenty minutes of this – notably, the left jog wheel and microphones stopped working completely. All my apologies.

Songs for every day of the week. Made in: Palestine, Tyneside, Lewisham, Sweden and elsewhere. Made with: drones, guitars, and drum machines. Voilà.

on this pilot episode of dream fm, 999ADJ takes you on a journey through breaks, dnb and jungle, featuring artists such as Tim Reaper, Sully, DJ Storm, Bizzy B, Dazegxd and 4am Kru.

***!!!TONIGHT at 10pm repeated throughout the week, check the schedule, TDW150 with reticulated phlegmsocket DJ Fiery Biscuits. Heavy feature for Sweet Williams latest album in advance of their Brighton matinee show on Sept 13th at the Albert, tickets are flying, go! Go Now!!!, and for a Women In Noise label compilation in support of Palestine. Go Now Pop Kids F**k Fascism!!!***

The sun is out (somewhere) and the nights are still long, and time to shift down the tempo to the Brazilian rhythm of Bossa Nova - Made In Japan. Outside of Japan, Brazil has the largest Japanese population of any other country, and though their relationship has a peculiar past, there has always been a love for the Brazilian sound. The sensual heartbeat of bossa may chime with an ancestral memory of Japanese folk music (minyo) which often has a slow walking type rhythm. Or the mood and chords of saudade could remind the Japanese listener of fado (Portugal having a longer history with the archipelago). Whatever the reason, it's a comfortable fit, and there are endless renditions of the bossa sound, with a splash of kayoukyoku umami.

latest TDW with fossilized pandemonium DJ Fiery Biscuits. Tracks by Flower Corsano Duo , Karnen Constance, Shadow Pattern/Duncan Harrison, Amber Bouchard, Shaun Robert, Ailbhe Nic Oireachtaigh, Alberto Novello/Rob Mazurek, and John Object/Grischa Lichtenberger.

Sliding back the screen to reveal Japan's singular tidal wave of creativity, that rushed in after punk, which had opened the door to a new way, from the late 1970s onwards. It seemed almost overnight pompous prog. rock and jazz fusion were swept aside for a more immediate and relevant sound. Once the garage bands had set down their three chords, another crop of musicians and amateurs had their moment. Stepping up to the mic in this session are (early) Rough Trade styled low-fi guitar units, minimal bedroom synth outfits, have-a-go vocalists with primitive drum machines, and ethereal strummers, released on cassette, flexi disc and the rest, all Made In Japan.