Get a preview of the Auckland radio station’s new exhibition, Cover Story.
Base FM musical Director Dylan C. Photo: Supplied
Independent radio station Base FM was set up in 2004 and, with the help of their community and listeners, they’re currently looking to relocate from their Grey Lynn homebase. But the team – which stretches to over 80 DJs – have also just launched a new exhibition called Cover Story, where they’re showcasing their favourite pieces of vinyl and breaking down why they mean so much to them.
To get a preview of everything, here’s Manuel Bundy, Nabeel and Lui Silk with their picks.
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Manuel Bundy - 'Down & Out' on Base FM, Thur 12-2pm: Slum Village - It’s Fantastic Vol. 2 (Interscope promo)
Sometime around 1999, I got a call from my good friend DJ Sir-Vere who was working at Beat Merchants at the time.
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He said, ‘Bro, I’ve got a record for you. It’s got you written all over it.’ That’s the one thing I miss about record stores that you don’t get when buying tunes online. Having on-to-it cats behind the counter who know their shit and know what their regular customers want and need.
Anyway, I rock up to the store and he shows me this record. But before he hands it to me he plays a track - ’Fall in Love’. Hook, line and sinker. Now, I’d already been aware of the talents of producer Jay Dee aka J Dilla through his work with the Pharcyde, Tribe, De La Soul, and the Ummah production team. But this album was the one I was waiting for. I was hanging out to hear an album that was fully produced by this man. And it’s been in my Top 5 albums of all time ever since. Thank you, Jay Dee.
Nabeel – 'The Basement' on Base FM, Monday nights 8-10pm: Paper Planes: Homeland Security Remixes, M.I.A. XL Recordings, 2008
I’m writing a book about ‘western’ music in the post 9/11 context, and this particular record and cover reminds me of one of the most common experiences for many of us with the ‘wrong’ name, skin colour or clothes. I’m lucky that my job enables me to travel overseas several times a year, often to the US and the UK. But the repeated questions, scans, pat-downs and scrotum gropes are a grind; never mind the usual regime of semi-undressing and removing computers and putting shoes, belt and other belongings in those grubby plastic trays in the security line.
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It was probably 2004 when a Homeland Security officer at JFK airport flipped through the pages of my passport. After noticing my birthplace was Karachi, he asked, ‘When was the last time you went to Pakistan?’ ‘In 1997, for my brother’s wedding,’ I replied. ‘Was it a shotgun wedding?’ he guffawed. I tried to grin. ‘Are you Pakistani?’ he asked. ‘I’m a British and New Zealand citizen,’ I said. ‘Are you a Muslim?’ he asked. ‘I’m a British and New Zealand national,’ I reiterated. ‘Do you identify as Pakistani Muslim? Are you a Pakistani?’ His voice was more insistent now. ‘I can put you in the group for secondary screening. Do you identify as Pakistani?’
I was dumbstruck for a few seconds. You like to have a choice about your identity. All I could hear in my head was the beat of Salt ’n’ Pepa’s ‘Push it’ with M.I.A.’s rap ‘Ain’t that you with the Muslims?’ The track ‘Sunshowers’ had recently gone viral on the mixtape Piracy Funds Terrorism Volume 1. The way M.I.A. sang ‘Muslims’ as ‘Muzalimz’ sounded like the Homeland Security officer’s pronunciation. I guess I became a ‘Muslim’ again after 9/11, and it had nothing to do whether I was a believer or not. My experiences with border security folks are mild and innocuous in comparison with other people of colour, immigrants and refugees.
These days I’m impressed more by M.I.A. as graphic artist than recording artist. I love the garish retro emoji style of this cover, which captures the ordinary objects of everyday surveillance and travel. I remain impressed that ‘Paper Planes’, a rap about getting visas written by a refugee, sampling a punk group, and with girl backup singers introducing gunshots, became one of the ubiquitous hits of the new century and life during wartime. The mixes and different MC versions on this EP add their own flavours and twists on the song’s themes. I still have a lot of faith in the power of a catchy tune. It can pack us much weight as a small suitcase.
Lui Silk (Home Brew Crew) – 'Full Metal Record' show on Base FM, Fri nights 8-10pm: Home Brew
If you were to ask me if I would ever hear my voice on vinyl a few years ago, I would have laughed at you.
This has never been played on a record player and probably never will be.
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This album represents a lot of opportunities I have been fortunate enough to have been given over the years through music. It represents a lot of hard work by everyone who was involved in making it what it is today.
It also represents all the close friendships I have made over the years through the music scene. Being able to perform on stages all over New Zealand and besides Danny2Chains (my co-host on Base), is one of the reasons I am a proud member of the Base FM family.
This stays in a box I keep under my bed in my room and has been there since I got it 4+ years ago.
Cover story is on display at Studio One Room 10 on Ponsonby Road until November 5.
