I just stepped out of the office for half an hour because some guys were here fitting a new air conditioner. Beautiful day here. Managed find a copy of David Axlerod‘s Heavy Axe on the street for $3. It’s from 1974, a little late for me, but gives the impression of being a bit more accessible than some of his work, so I’m optimistic. Plus, there are some people selling reissue copies on ebay who say it’s very funky, or ‘seriously illin’ as they put it. Let’s hope they aren’t just trying to sell it.

I bought another great thing on Saturday – I found a discounted copy in Sounds of ‘Up!‘, an Italian early 70s funk/ez compilation on the Schema label. On first listen, this sounds absolutely great, and really rises above the hoardes of other italian comps, many of which are too samey for my tastes. This one has quite a hard groove to it, rather like the UK ‘Blow up vol 1′ CD I used to own. Very cool!.

I meant to say, I listened to the Stereolab Fluorescences EP and thought it was excellent. I’m trying to figure out exactly when this came out. I don’t have the ’emporor tomato ketchup’ album, so maybe it was from that. It certainly sounds like it is pre-‘dots and loops’. I enjoyed the David Holmes CD less. I think it’s the kind of thing you have to really give your full attention to – the songs seem to fit together to form a narrative . I didn’t really give it the time yet…

Another thing I was really enjoying over the weekend was my copy of Francis Lai‘s ‘I’ll never forget whatsisname’ soundtrack (on vinyl). The main theme, ‘cambridge’, is incredibly sleepy, but there are some really cool ‘party’ cuts with a cool late 60s ‘shake’ feel interspersed. All in all, at least 5 really great tracks, which is pretty good for a soundtrack.