“Its enough to fuel any teenage head looking for thrills…”
Mr. Cherrystones is back to rock the psychedelic block party from London to NYC with his new compilation Cherrystones Word.
He can effortlessly turn the dullest event into an iconic happening, having already Dj’ed alongside Danger Mouse, Six Organs of Admittance, Edan and the final Libertines shows, to DJing the final freak-outs at All Tomorrow’s Parties(Shellac curated 2002) and Green Man Festivals. Bands such as Wolf Eyes and Dead Meadow now personally request him to open their shows and tours.
Poptones was introduced to Cherrystones through his streetmix Entertaining the Unobvious, a raucous, vibrant and new form of rock n roll that has seen hundreds of copies selling each month through mail-order, personal email and myspace. Reflecting his punk rock roots, but coming out at a hip-hop angle with an astounding knowledge of music and a native intuition of how to tear shit up in clubs, Cherrystones is the sound of psychedelia-soundtracks-folk-rock-prog-noise-moog-AND-library-records. Music that takes its inspiration from rock n roll and applied in a hip-hop context.
Cherrystones is undeniably an excavator of exciting, but unfamiliar genres. Cherrystones Word follows the trend set by his previous compilation Cherrystones Rocks and Hidden Charms (released on David Holmes label). Cherrystones Rocks (in 2002) pre-empted many sounds that are held in high regard now including the worldwide resurgence of Tropicalia, while tracks from Hidden Charms ended up on the Oceans Twelve soundtrack.
Cherrystones is a music lover first and foremost, who happens to be a beat-digger par excellence. His compilations have a beautiful flow like a radio transmission from planet dada. This personal journey by DJ is genuinely disarming as he uncovers track after track that thrills through being dusted down for fresh consumption, from the Led Zeppelin-esque qualities of Dead Moon to the crazed Dylan-like The Deviants. What could be more of an accidental tribute (as this was put together before his sad passing) to the late, great Arthur Lee than the Midnight Circus?
In steering the same path as forward thinking mish-mash merchants such as Don Letts, it’s still punk rock to Cherrystones. “Its part of the rebel music culture and community, the same things that led me to punk and all the music I love simple loves and fears, rejection, isolation, unity through groups and gangs and a heap of teenage adrenalin all mixed with adolescence that’s enough to fuel any teenage head looking for thrills.”
Comps are two-a-penny, but none are as solid or brimful of soul as this.
The next Cherrystones instalment will come forth in early 2007.
Not content with making beats and remix duties, Cherrystones under the alias Godsy is about to drop two EPs of cinematic Morricone-guitar and drone for hot new NYC label Whatever We Want records (home to Quiet Village).
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MP3:Brainbox – Amsterdam, The First Days
Artist: Brainbox – Amsterdam, The First Days
Album: V/A – Cherrystone’s Word: The Sympathetic Sounds of the Psychedelic Ghetto CD
Label: Pop Tones
Release: 2006
http://www.myspace.com/djcherrystones
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