It’s the Day After Zef’s Birthday. All is good in my hood. Sun shines through the window. My back was murdering me this morning, so I read comics in bed before getting up and working, some luxury shit I hadn’t thought to do in years. You’d think, given I don’t have to drag my ass into an office, I’d read comics in bed a whole lot more. Shit, I ate me some Quavers while I was doing it too. Good times!

The comic I was reading, incidentally, was The Ultimates. Have any of you read that shit? It’s basically a re-booted The Avengers, re imagined in some alternative universe. Bruce Banner is something of a neurotic wreck - his girl Betty is a totally harsh PR bitch who treats him like crap and is seeing Freddie Prinze Jr on the side. When he turns into the Hulk he gets mad horny and murks 300 odd people. Fucking weird as.

Giant Man is a power freak asshole who physically abuses his wife, The Wasp. As if slapping the shit out of her during an argument wasn’t enough, dude puts on his Ant Man helmet and sets a swarm of ants on her Wasp-sized ass. That is so dark and hardcore.

Captain America totally fancies the Wasp, so he beats the shit out of Giant Man. The Wasp is unimpressed and tells him to piss off, so he goes and murks a load of aliens. Tony Starks spends the whole time drinking vodka and flying around pissed up in his Iron Man suit, and abusing his butler, Jarvis.

Best of all, there’s Thor. In The Ultimates, Thor is a seemingly delusional hippy who thinks he’s the son of God, and has been put on earth to do battle with capitalist scum like Iron Man. Oh, and Nick Fury is now black and looks just like Samuel L Jackson. I am totally enjoying this stuff, even if it is really cynical, and basically a massive rip-off of The Authority. Even has the same artist  - Bryan Hitch, who I have never really liked, or got, until this run. Dude is actually fucking mad talented. So there.

OK, non-comics geeks come back.

Sorrry about that. What was I meaning to write about?

Oh yeah. One of my Awesome Celebrity Fans, the great Mark Moore of the recently revived S’Express has reviewed Thieving for the UK’s biggest free gay magazine, QX International Magazine.  “Beware the back pages,” warns Mark. “Not for the faint of heart!”

Cheers for the warning Mark! And cheers for the review. It is a very lovely, and factually correct review.

READ IT!

Hail Akira The Don! He has put out a CD of tunes, recorded for EPs over the last 2 years, that didn’t quite make it onto his eagerly awaited, soon come, official second album. But have no fear for this is no collection of second rate scraps and makes a mighty fine album in its own right. “Thieving” follows on from last years mix CD with Wade Crescent, “Stunners 130″, which included some nice mash ups along with wonderful titles like “If I Was S’Express I’d Fucking Sue The Klaxons”. I could not resist and immediately befriended Akira on mySpace and was sent a whole pile of goodies all packaged with some rather nifty artwork. Name checking such heroes and inspirations as Morrissey and Hunter S Thompson you know this is no ordinary hip-hop CD. And Akira is no ordinary rapper which is evident on seeing this white, Welsh raised homie and his long mane of blond hair. The songs are great and the samples include folky, funky and indie loops (Blur, Elastica, XTC). Guests include Lethal Bizzle. Controversy is supplied by political tracks such as “Thanks For All the Aids” which is dedicated to the ‘entirely lunatic, population reducing achievements of Henry Kissinger, the World Bank and the Catholic church.’ It also caused US label Interscope (home to 50 Cent, Snoop Dog and Eminem) to chicken out of releasing the thing. I’ve fallen in love with this CD. Grab it along with his first one “When We Were Young” from 2006 then wait as patiently as you can for the new masterpiece to emerge.

Happy Sunday! It is a nice one here in London. The sky is white. The digging outside has - momentarily - ceased. And it is with this spirit of peace and tranquility I present to you Californian technist and longtime ATD community member DJ CityScape’s remix of Thieving.

Forsooth!

Download: Akira The Don - Thieving (DJ CityScape Remix)

What think you? I think it is DOPE!

Check more of dude’s work at his MySpace here.

So, remember, like, years ago, I was talking about doing a thing wherein you could submit remixes, then they’d go up, and people could vote for which ones they liked best and that sort of thing? Well, with this new site technology, it seems we are finally going to be able to realise that dream. All praises due to Zef!

Edit: Download now working! Sorry about that!

So I didn’t quite have time to do your podcast this week, what with my hoary ole beast of a PC going into some kind of senile demential period and forgetting what to do with plugins and things of that nature.

BUT! I do have for your enjoyment, a song I plan to play on said cast of pod, which is Joey2tits‘ absolutely ACE remix of Thieving.

Forsooth!

Download: Akira The Don - Thieving (Joey2tits Remix)

Let me know what you think. And spot the samples!

Oh, and check my discography! You can listen to songs in it and everything. PLUS! I’ve re-upped some old mixtapes. HOW NICE AM I??????

Akira The Don & The Indeliactes was amazing! Photos coming in the morning with any luck. BIG UP EVERYBODY!

Edit:

OK, Zef’s trying to get this new photo infrastructure in place, but its proving tricky. So no big wodge of photos just yet, Just one (cheers Rachel!). Anyway. Like I said, we had a great time last night in Cambridge, and would like to thank everybody involved.

I was a bit worried when Jeres rang me at 11am slurring violently and admitting to not having been to sleep yet. But Nosleepdrunk or no, dude played ace, and so did Jeres and Mary (who had slept, and weren’t full of pop). Those that weren’t there! You missed a bunch of songs that have never been played live like Giro and Thieving. Shit is sounding mad good with bass AND guitar. AND you missed a very hot crowd. AND you missed The Indelicates. Or is it Indelicates?

Read more…

After a whole lot of messing around, Thieving T Shirts are finally back in stock. If you ordered one already, its on its way.

Whoo! Hoo!

I wasn’t too keen on those Fruit Of The Loom white Ts from last time, so these have been lovingly screen printed on heavier-weight Gildan Ts. I’m looking into some organic shits for the next design. WE SHALL SEE!

They come in Mens S, M, L, XL, and 2XL, and womens L. Ignore the other women’s options cos they are WRONG!

OK! Order ye your Thieving Ts before they sell the hell out!

(Details after the jump)

Read more…

Boy oh boy friends, this bank holiday did me in. Checked in on the creamy and glittery Pydos In Spydos video shoot on Saturday afternoon. An exceedingly drunken wedding on Saturday night. Easter Egg Hunt on Sunday (I did a very poor impression of a grumpy uncle), video shoot on Monday.

‘Another video shoot?’ I hear you cry. Yes indeed. We got the team together to shoot a merry movie for the lush Back In The Day remix from Thieving. This shit is gonna be fun to edit!

Photos below. Cheers Tego for these! Well shot!

L - R: Shizzio, Akira The Don, Big Narstie, Marvin, Pixel, Jack Nimble.

The problem with doing videos with Marvin is you have to look at his batty all day.

We are an angelic choir of angles.

Marvin is nice usually but sometimes he goes a bit Liam Gallagher.

Narstie entertaining us with tales of sneaky pillow wiping.

I am sticking my head back on here, after it fell off from laughing at Narstie’s pillow wiping story.

We are bringing the world down to our level.

Due to popular demand (whoo! I get to say “due to popular demand!”) I have made the acapellas for the Thieving mixtape available to download.

A few are missing as I haven’t got the files anymore. So! The Thieving Acapellas tracklisting:

1. Thieving
2. Click Clack Blam ft. Pixel
3. Thanks For All The AIDS ft. The Women
4. BOOM! (Smash Stuff) ft Why Lout?
5. Werewolves!
6. Back In The Day (Remix) ft. Jack Nimble, Narstie, Marvin & Shizzio
7. The Music Of The Spheres ft. Mary Turner
8. Dear Baby (Cut You In The Face)
9. Oobie Doo ft. Mary Turner & Marvin
10. Jesus!
11. Gitmo ft. Narstie
12. Giro
13. Riot Going On ft Dego Brown
14. Now Then
15. Tomorrow ft Madison
16. Oh! (What A Glorious Thing) ft Bashy
17. To The Tongue Tied ft Mary Turner

17 Potential Bootleg Smashes! Whoee! Yours for £4.50. Awesome.

The fine people at Culture Deluxe posted a fine review of Thieving yesterday. And they gave it 8 stars, which was also fine. Peep game:

Culture Deluxe Review
8/10
Akira the Don
‘Thieving’
Released on 10 March 2008 on www.akirathedon.com

The title track and album opener shamelessly admits that Akira is fond of lifting the odd sample - but we knew that. Hell, even the artwork to this fine new release is a clever re-reworking of Blur’s pastel reworking of The Beatles’ iconic ‘Let It Be’ cover. Along with some great new material, ‘Thieving’ revisits some of Akira’s greatest moments to date and, naturally, a number of the tracks which influenced this indie / hip hop crossover with a sense of humour and lyrics to rival the wittiest social commentator.

Old favourite ‘Thanks For All The AIDS’ benefits from a sharp steal of The Kinks’ ‘Days’ as an introduction while the Elastica-sampling ‘Boom!’ originally surfaced on a mixtape called ‘third hand Wire riffs’ before its release as a bonafide cheeky b-side. Both sound immense here along with other such pilfered material as crackly 70’s disco records on ‘Y R U So Layzee’ and XTC’s ‘Making Plans for Nigel’ on the soon to be classic ‘Giro’.

When not audaciously stealing tracks outright on ‘Werewolves of London’ Akira makes references to both Amy Winehouse and surely the first to slum landlords since Carter USM’s ‘Sheriff Fatman’. Despite his hip hop medium, Akira definitely owes more to Jimbob and Fruitbat’s influence than that of Dr Dre. Akira is the closest thing we have to Ian Dury in this modern age, mixing the jocular and seemingly inconsequential together with great results. I mean, how great is ‘Oh! WHat a Glorious Thing’, itself a humdrum tribute to Ice Cube’s ‘Today Was A Good Day’?

Even at twenty three tracks in length, ‘Stealing’ never becomes trite, irksome or stereotyped. It presents the perfect opportunity to get on the ATD freedom buggy to rhymin’ oblivion - so hop on.

The album can be ordered on CD, MP3 and, er, t-shirt through Akira’s website.

Posted on 13 March 2008 by Richard Brown”

Cheers Culture Deluxe! I am also at number 10 in their top ten artists, for some reason. Two places above The Teenagers. My little brother was taking me to see them on April 7th. But now I am playing a gig with The Indelicates, which is kind of his fault for getting me into them. Is that irony?

Wanna be in the video we’re making for Giro?

Dermot Arnold is. Paula Fischer is. In fact, all of you that emailed after hearing about the competition in the last Doncast are in. So too are the “pick a working title” winners (I haven’t forgotten your avatars!).

Well done!

There’s space for 30 more of you. If you applied for the Donsquad and sent a photo, you’re in the running. The rest of you, if you want your merry mug in the forthcoming animated video for my song Giro, email a full head shot (and body if possible) to atd@akirathedon.com with GIRO as the message subject. 30 people will be picked at random next week, when we’re properly amidst it (I am waiting for Zef to finish working on Erol Alkan’s website before we start properly).

Oh, if you want a taste of the vibe of the video, click here.

Go in peace!

So, l’ve been reading a bunch of Terry Pratchett books lately, after not thinking about dude for, like, twelve years. Shit is fucking funny, and mad clever. Yesterday I saw this massive poster for a Sky One adaption of The Colour Of Magic. That’s weird I thought. Then this morning, as I lay in bed and my girl got ready for work, I heard dude’s name mentioned on the radio, but I was half asleep so I didn’t notice what it was about. Then I got this mail from Colin:

“Terry Pratchett made a very moving but also very critical and relevant speech this morning. It appears that he has very early onset altzheimers disease and has donated a million dollars to research. It was very sad. He did make several hugely relevant points on the state of the NHS and how it is easier for him to get crack than it is for him to get his medication. You should try and watch it. Although it may make you upset. He is a great man and it is so admirable to see someone both publicly criticising the health system whilst actively trying to help others in similar situations.”

I couldn’t find the speech, but I found a story about it here.

“It’s a shock and a shame…to find out that funding for research is three per cent of that which goes to find cancer cures,” said Dr Pratchett, who can’t get NHS treatment because he’s “too young to have Alzheimer’s for free”.

“I want to go on writing!” he said. “Admittedly, that means I have to stay alive. You can’t write books when you are dead, unless your name is L. Ron Hubbard.”

Bless that funny man.

OK. Onto more trivial matters. What do you people think of this new Lil Wayne single?

L - R: Marvin, Example, Jack Nimble, AK Donovan Indeed! The weekly onslaught continues. It is over a month now since I quit fags, and over a month since I started doing a podcast every week. Are the two linked? Who knows? All I know is DONCAST 7 is live!

iTunes people should go here. The feed with which you subscribe to the podcast is here-AH!.

With music from Marvin ft. ATD & Example, Leonard Cohen, Rick Ross, Lou Gramm, The Teenagers, Lupe Fiasco, Aidan John Moffat and MORE! Like The Pydos In Spydos remix of Thieving! That sort of more! PLUS! Listen inside for first details on the Giro video competition! We’re taking it back to The Drinking Song days, if you remember those.

If you wanna hear the remix of Marvin’s Superhero without me talking on it, go here. If you wanna hear Jack Nimble and Marvin’s remix of Thieving without me talking on, go here. In other news my old mate Marty from Miami has written and directed his very own movie film! Check the trailer here, it looks pretty fuckin smart you know.