For those with an ear (or two) attuned to the most meticulous of detail, you may notice that the MVSY production aesthetic is quite broad (haters might argue, inconsistent), and it is true that our early efforts were principally based around samples extracted from others' compositions. This method, or at least (mine) Deejaymanticore's approach to creating entirely sample-based tracks proved far too time-consuming over time, however, and a more synthetic way of making tunes was progressively implemented, as other, purely instrumental projects were being explored. To this end, 'Playing Like An Angel, Grooving Like The Devil' and 'Variations In G-Funk Minor' fall into the former category, whereas 'Divided States' and 'La Violencia' belong to the latter one.

The remaining tracks currently featuring on the main page's audio player, aren't in fact Deejaymanticore productions (which is not to say that they're necessarily inferior as such).

The first of the two non-manticore assisted tracks is 'When In Rome', actually a very, er, emotionally moving - can I write that without sounding too effeminite? - tribute to yours truly initially concocted entirely by High-C himself, and eventually recut to excellence with the aid of guitar wizard extraordinaire Kid Charlamaign, an MP3 of which you can download at the following link:

http://rhymetorrents.com/disc3/High-C%20-%2019%20-%20When%20In%20Rome%20(Kid%20Charlamaign%20Rock%20Remix).mp3

The other being 'Flame Extension', also created, or in this case, mashed-up by my OG, the one and only old-school geeksta B.A. - and I don't mean Bachelor Of Arts here either - High-C.

More of our efforts, both solo, and as a duo, can be found spread across the various volumes of the Rhyme Torrents compilations, freely available as either MP3 or torrent downloads at the following URL:

http://www.rhymetorrents.com/?q=albums

You can also hear more tracks I myself have been involved in producing at:

http://www.myspace.com/deejaymanticore

There's also a page with tunes on the techno tip I've concocted with my co-producer in crime Mark Cascardi:

http://www.myspace.com/dyskiette

Cheerio,
Roman/Deejaymanticore,
on behalf of Meter Versus Yard, an integral member of the Measurerecs. Recording Corporation.

P.S.

The hyperlinks have been fixed. The myspace blog editing tools are a bit shite at times, but the site's coding staff seemed to have fortunately repaired the linking issue. Jason/High-C is a practicing IT genius in his spare time between writing rhymes, so I thought that perhaps he could fix this blog entry eventually, at least, but luckily that proved unnecessary.

Dear All,

I full well realize than in the apolitical environment of contemprary music and youth culture, a substantial percentage of users of the Rupert Murdoch-owned Myspace social networking site prefer to adopt an attitude of, as Thom Yorke sang in Radiohead's 'Life In A Glass House', 'Don't talk politics and don't throw stones'.  By the way of the most immediate example, Emo angst anyone? what are those middle-class trust fund mall punks really rebelling against, one must wonder? Surely not against the fact that the global economy is crumbling, homelessness, even in the U.S. - the land of plenty greed - is becoming increasingly rampant, and there are people around the world dying of starvation, and countries where being massacred by both American and, er, 'coalition of the willing' troops as well as insurgent terrorist operatives is a fact of life (and death)? Nonetheless, for those of us fortunate enough to live in 'democracies' (how about 'bankocracies', more accurately) where freedom of expression is not subject to as much repression as in other nation-states around the world, the ability to discuss politics liberally should be not so much a mere right, but rather an obligation.

Here is a relevant quote from M.I.A. (of 'Paper Airplanes' fame), sourced from Spin Magazine: 'Where the fuck has all the rebellion gone? Music is still reliant on the same shit: sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll. They don't use it as a tool to stick their finger up at the rest of the world. It's like, 'Yeah, I got a shorty coming up to me, and we're about to have some liquor, chill in the SUV.' Maybe it happens every day like that in R.Kelly's world, but it's not realistic for me (...) If you're having
problems paying rent, then rap or sing about it. Or is life realy that great for everyone else, and I'm the biggest pessimist in the world?'

M.I.A., it is worth noting, is now somewhat ironically, given her political stance, the fiancee of the heir to Seagram's booze fortune, the highly whimsically named Benjamin Brewer (who also fathered the child which M.I.A. is pregnant with) , whose family got rich by bootlegging hooch during the Prohibition fortune. Nonetheless, she readily admits: 'What can you do? I fell in love' and moreover her late maternal grandmother was an avid drinker of Seagram's product, Martell cognac, and thus believes that through heavenly intervention Granny brought her and Brewer together, as 'She was, after all, Seagram's number-one customer'.

Below you will find a link to an intriguing (socio-culturally, at least) article concerning the impact which the global financial crisis has had on, er, 'ruining' Russia's drinking culture. It seems that now, more than ever people around the world seem to agree, as per the Matt Elliott tune which concludes his latest, par excellence album 'Howling Songs' on Yann Tiersen's consistently solid Ici D'Ailleurs record label,  that the stock exchange should indeed be bombed - and the idea, suggested by Mr. Elliott himself in a recent Myspace blog posting, of lining up the international financial elite against the wall and... employing them as wage slaves by the way of hospital porters until the end of their days, so that for once in their greedy lives they can do some good for society, is a very sound one indeed. Read his full post here:

http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=41300952&blogID=436193313

At all events, here's the link to the article you've all been dying from serosis of the liver to read:

http://ca. news. yahoo. com/s/reuters/081124/odds/odd_us_russia_alcohol_1

By the way of commentary, I imagine that Russians will start drinking a hell of a lot more in due time, however, now that the duration of a single term of presidency has been extended from a 'mere' four years to six, and once Vlad The Impaler, er, Vladimir Putin, assumes the highest office once again. This of course in spite of the fact that he already lorded over the Russian plains for two consecutive terms, but the nation's constitution does not prohibit a politician from seeking another term, regardless, so long as there has been a 'gap' of at least a single presidential term held by another individual in the interim. This of course brings to mind the question of just how fucked up is their constitution, really? But then again, one always ought to keep everything in a historical context, I suppose - and the Russian populace seem to long to be ruled with an iron fist, as there's never been a genuine alternative to such a sometimes greater, sometimes lesser, but always quintessentially totalitarian form of
governance. 

It is widely assumed that Vlad will ascend to the throne once again when the stop-gap presidency of the ever ironically named Dmitry Medvedev comes to a close several years from now. Incidentally, Medvedev, as I have discovered much to my utmost horror, was born under the same 'bad' star as I, as has been Alexander Lukashenko and, I believe, the president of Syria also - all Virgoans, though not to make too fine of a point of it. But does all of that ultimately mean that I have the potential to become an oppressive neo-totalitarian dictator myself at some point in life? Surely, a rather intriguing prospect, to say the least. It is worth noting that Medvedev's surname loosely translates to 'teddy bear' (which, in spite of all it's imperialism-nouveau ambitions, is all that Russia has become, what with a weak economy, a quite literally rusting army, et cetera - and is definitely no longer the Great Ferocious Bear of Eurasia of old, military manoeuvres in Georgia notwithstanding)

A Tipsy Smirnoff (insert trademark symbol where appropriate) Cheerio,
Roman/Deejaymanticore