wrongtom

At least it wasn't the Prince Buster version (I don't even want to link to it!)

Chapter 21: You Have One Doubt, They Call It Treason In which I take a look at the revolutionary early years of Roberta Flack's career, and get dubby with McD's Dagger.

Of course I wrote about it rentparty.substack.com/p/chapter-21...

There's an alternate timeline where Clint Eastwood doesn't convince Flack to let him use this song in Play Misty For Me and most of the world never gets to hear her music

I can already tell you the next episode is going to be a special one bsky.app/profile/wron...

Kuljit's hands 💜

Yep, I think it was Mushroom's jeep.

I met the orchestrator Wil Malone when he handled strings on Hard-Fi's 2nd album, and I remember worrying that they might have to sell a few cars too (it went platinum fortunately)

And here's Kuljit Bhamra playing his tablas over Kiss by Prince

Evening, if you missed it earlier, here's episode 12 of The Rough Guide To Rongorongoland...

This is ace! Hard recommend.

Kuljit is adorable. Tom’s ok too x

Found the 3" CD at my Mum's House™

After going through the evolution of Prince’s Kiss, Kuljit took to the tabla over the extended 12” section. Listen to the full show in the link above

Tracklist... 1. Laurel & Hardy - You’re Nicked (CBS) 2. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra - Disco Wich Aa (Naya Beat) 3. Stevie Wonder - Superstitious (Wrongtom’s Disco Dub) 4. Bismillah Khan - Bhangra (HMV) 5. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra - Giddha Pao Haan Dio (IRH) 6. RD Burman & Peter Moss - Bombay Disco (Polydor) 7. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra - Chum Chum Dil Nal (Naya Beat) 8. Chan BB - Chan’s Theme Shimba (CSB London Records) 9. Kuljit Bhamra - Jambo (Keda) * Kuljit plays the tablas * 10. Mookraj Sahadeo - School Girl (Sammy Bros) 11. Kuljit Bhamra, Lol Gellor, Gary Crosby - Sanjit’s Story (Keda) 12. Carmen McCrae - Take Five (Fontana) 13. Prince - Kiss (demo) 14. Mazeratti - Kiss (demo) 15. Prince & The Revolution - Kiss (extended version) (Paisley Park) * Kuljit plays the tablas * 16. Sangeeta - O Mera Chan Pardesi (slightly dubbed by Wrongtom)

Last week's episode of The Rough Guide To Rongorongoland is finally on Mixcloud. This time I spent a couple of hours chatting about bhangra, Punjabi Disco and Prince with tablanaut and all round legend Kuljit Bhamra. Listen back here... www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/wr...

Tracklist in alt text

Wrongtom - Halflife Show on Groovetech Radio (2002-10-17) YouTube video by tekDragon

Here I am on Groovetech radio around that time with Caspa's brother Jae One, and "you can thank you're lucky stars I won't be talking much, I've got rotten tonsils" www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxpM...

I just found Caspa’s first tune on an old DAT, back when he was called Quiet Storm in the early 00s. He’d made it with Fruityloops and his mum paid me a few quid to rebuild it and mix it down. Pretty sure that's me saying his name.

Olio YouTube video by The Rapture - Topic

Olio was actually a remake of one of their late 90s tracks. I love both versions www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIVv...

Silent Morning YouTube video by The Rapture - Topic

Anyway, the story in the alt ext of my throwback pic above is true, and the b-side is still a thing of beauty www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_PE...

a black and white photo of a man wearing a turtleneck . ALT: a black and white photo of a man wearing a turtleneck .

Actually, looking at the 12", I think House Of came out in 2002, and I've just remembered the actual 1st time I played it out at a gig in Kingston where a girl came up to me at the end asking if I was playing a record by a disabled person, then did an impression of Luke Jenner. I wasn't impressed

DJing at a band's after party was often a knife edge of messy fun and a gig from hell. In the early 00s it was my bread and butter, and I played loads. Mostly for EMI, for everyone from Placebo to the Brit Awards. This one in Jan 2003 was for Supergrass who had Polyphonic Spree and The Ravonettes supporting. I loved the latter two but I don't remember seeing many of them at the after party. In fact, had the Polyphonic Spree turned up, it would've looked a lot busier. Instead, I have vivid memories of a few encounters... Zane Lowe was particularly taken with 'If I Gave You A Party' by Cleveland electro-funk freaks Sexual Harassment, while a guy in leathers wearing just one glove pulled some wild moves on an otherwise empty dancefloor while I played Kiss by Prince. He eventually collapsed into the decks, and had to be carried out by the rest of his band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. He was the drummer, if memory serves. But the one which sticks in my mind most was the lady who ran over, begging to know what I was playing after I dropped the needle on 'House Of Jealous Lovers' by The Rapture. She made me write it down, and I tipped her off about the DFA and James Murphy. My friend at the company came over saying "do you know who that was?" And this is the bit which now escapes me, because I can no longer tell you who she was, but it was someone with a lot of weight at EMI. Whoever she was, as you probably know, she didn't get to sign The Rapture who joined the Vertigo roster over at Universal soon after, but EMI did acquire the rest of the DFA a year or so later. You're welcome *winky face*

My only photo evidence of that night.

Short sleeve shirt with a black tie and black beanie was a choice, I guess. Looks like I'm playing something on VP Records there, my guess would be Like Glue by Sean Paul.

I also played a lot of punk-funk, and no-wave stuff. Check the alt text for more info

It must've been a few weeks before the release date, because one of the first places I played it out was at the after show for a Supergrass and Polyphonic Spree gig at Wembley Arena.

Just googled it and spotted this ticket. Jan 25th 2003

A month or so before this date, I popped into Beggars Banquet in Kingston, and my old mate Chris said he had something he had a pre-release of something he knew I'd like. Reader, he was not mistaken.

That's Chris on the left, as seen in Lily Allen's LDN video when he worked in Rough Trade

I've only had one truly awful encounter, so cuntish it bordered on absurdity. I still think about it from time to time and chuckle.

After the interview he told me that he hated most bands from Bristol. I didn't believe him, though there was a lot of conviction when it came to the story mentioned above

Like a Human Flood: Attempting to Uncover the Real Sleng Teng Story | The Quietus Wrongtom undertakes some detective work around the birth of the most famous digital dancehall riddim and discovers something unusual

It's very famous for being a preset! thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

Tricky: I Am Adrian Thaws YouTube video by 180 Fact

There's inevitably a lot of Albarn bashing in my comments which I'm staying out of, but some of you might enjoy my interview with Tricky from a few years back. Skip to the 7 mins mark www.youtube.com/watch?v=MveC...

a man sitting at a counter with the words " buh bye " written above him ALT: a man sitting at a counter with the words " buh bye " written above him

It goes with the territory 😉

Though maybe not you personally, I can confirm this. Though my horror story from around then was with one of the staff at Sister Ray down the road

I actually do have some insight into how Gorillaz was born, because when I was working in a record shop, I sold Damon Albarn an instant hip hop collection. He came in one Saturday and bought about £300 worth of great but obvious albums (PE, De La Soul, Wu Tang, Tribe). Was properly rude too.

I expect no less. Which shop?

In the spirit of the Sleng Teng origin story, here’s how Damon Albarn came up with Clint Eastwood

Tablas in a messy loft

Shubh Holi to those who celebrate (I’ve got a 5 year old covered in yellow paint powder here)

Inspired by recent conversations with Kuljit Bhamra, I’ve dusted off my tablas which need a bit of TLC

Keep ‘em peeled for something tabla shaped dropping on Bandcamp Friday