Technophile Futurist

Blowing the airwaves in your direction, we've a guest this weekend: DJ-Producer Bitmarx has made us a special mini-mix. His motto: "It's not about what you play, it's all about what you refuse to play."

Bitmark is playing London's The Egg April 5th, alongside Grammy award-winning DJ Sharam of the Iranian duo Deep Dish. Sharham flies in from his home USA, after a tour of Miami's clubs.

Check out Bitmarx's remix of Booka Shade, one of our early favourites, below. Click the flyer, right for gig details.

When This Kicks Off....The Gossip - (Yuksek Remix)

Iranian Electronica - Weird, Quirky, Lovely

Tonight a salute to electronic producers hailing from Iran and scattered across the diaspora.

We navigate between experimental glitch-core-neopolka, dance, sax and funk with even a little rap permitted. Producers on tonight's show work as far afield as Israel, Netherlands, Iran, New York, UK and more.

Sometimes the music is angry, other times doleful, sometimes poetic, always reaching out. It does a listener well to remember that western music was banned in Iran in 1979 at the time of the Islamic 'revolution' and that playing this music is still punishable by harsh prison sentences. However not everyone producing music in the diaspora would say these facts affect their music directly, removed as they are from the realities of everyday Iranian life.

Art work: Taravat Talepasand- 'Modest'

Iranian Overload

Tomorrow Djing at the National Portrait Gallery, a musical journey from 1940s Iran through to the present day. As most musical forms were banned in 1979 and still are today, re-issue vinyl is generally out. After hours of hideous drums loops that come from Yamaha synths and pitch-correcter VFX, I have found a handful of gems that put the gain into the pain. This track by Clark is but light relief.... Tomorrow's event is free, and begins with a talk on the first floor about Iranian new year (happens now at the Vernal Equinox -that's Spring) and a free film screening of the as-yet unreleased This Is Not a Film, a film so hot it was smuggled out of Iran in a cake to Cannes last year. There's a joke in there somewhere....

Spring Bird

Official Trailer (2:45) from Andrew Bird: Fever Year on Vimeo.

Riot in Lagos

When a Music Video Makes You Crack Up

Well the song is OK, but the sentiment, the style of the video and the fake cat paw are friggin' hilarious. Great direction by Saman Keshavarz, incidentally an Iranian. (This is really a coincidence I know I bang on about Iranian music a mazzzively disproportionate amount.) So when a music video was ever this funny, was there one? Let us know if you can think of one. Until then, this remains top funny music vid of all time.