The second half of a tape from a show shared with Julia aka the Black Bitch, an excellent techno and electronic DJ who featured on Solid Steel a few times during the 90s. This is just my set, a busy half hour that jumps all over the place stylistically and kicks off with Scotland’s DJ Krash Slaughta featuring II Tone Committee and Killa Instinct. A dynamite slice up uptempo hip hop at a time when the faster Britcore styles had largely faded from the scene. Turntablist Krash Slaughta was a DMC finalist and absolutely slays on the cuts before Brian Eno’s ‘Fractal Zoom’ attempts to enter the mix but I obviously thought better of it during the manic cut-fest and opted for the more minimal St. Germain with ‘Sentimental Mood’ from the Boulevard series of 12”s. These three singles on F Communications were huge at the time, combining jazz with a heavily swung minimal house groove and still hold up.

Kushti’s UR Allstars was the second release on the short-living Octopus label and brings back lots of happy memories, there’s also a snatch of a DJ Toolz track in there too which I can’t identify. Toolz was an alias of Jazzy Jason, also part of the legendary Blapps posse, London Funk Allstars and Mad Doctor X, the four volumes he released on Ninja Tune in the early 90s were akin to the DJ Food Jazz Brakes both in style and sleeve design. Alpha Proxima’s immense ‘459 – / z’ is sadly truncated in this recording because the tape ended and had to be turned over so some is missing. The track resumes just as Autechre’s excellent remix of Scorn’s ‘Falling’ enters – another one of their classic mid 90s remixes that’s worth tracking down.

Sounds of Life was a collaboration between Photek and Source Direct’s Jim Baker and we hear their ‘Release The Bells’ here mixed in on 33rpm rather than its intended 45, I used to like a lot of my DnB on the wrong speed back then. Some Christian Marclay plunderphonics interjects far too soon and we’re treated to turntablism from the avant garde side of the tracks long before the word had been invented, this live improvisation dating from the 80s. DJ Krush’s ‘A Whim’ plays us out, a single from his Strictly Turntablized album which also birthed an excellent Alex Reece remix on 12” and two mixes by Roni Size and DJ Krust on 10” as I recall.

Track list:
DJ Krash Slaughta – Broken Needles Blown Mics
St.Germain – Sentimental Mood
Kushti – UR Allstars
DJ Tools 4 – ?
Alpha Proxima – 459 – / z
Scorn – Falling (Autechre FR 13 mix)
Sounds of Life – Release The Bells
Christian Marclay – Pandora’s Box
DJ Krush – A Whim

A dark but beautiful selection from a show I shared mix duty on with Riz Maslen aka Neotropic. My tape dates it as 30/01/98 but my online reference from Marcus Maack’s BTTB database says 04/01/1998. Whatever, it was sometime in January 1998 and this was recorded in the Ahead of Our Time studio in Clink St. most likely with engineer Ali Tod at the controls and my flanger pedal in the mix by the sounds of things.

Starting with the classic monologue about Cymatic frequencies that Coldcut used so often in shows we drift into an almost Steve Reich-ian minimalist piece from A Reminiscent Drive whose back catalogue contains a wealth of such treasures. Opiate’s ‘Small Talk Whirl’ is from his debut 12” on April Records which I can’t remember ever owning but that’s old age for you. Track 8 from the CD of Aphex Twin’s Analogue Bubblebath 3 is up next, a classic I was still dropping in my Selected Aphex Works mixes some years back.
Small Fish With Spine was/is an alias of Riz’s and she’d just released her Ultimate Sushi album on Oxygen Music Works (which I’d designed the cover for too). Not sure what I was thinking playing her new record before her, bad DJ etiquette but I was young and foolish back then. ‘Korona’ comes from the uber-rare MASK 100 12”, a very early Boards of Canada track from 1996, pre-Warp when they were still on Skam and largely unknown. Funny how you can just search for it now and it’s on YouTube, back then it was rare as hen’s teeth. There’s a snatch of Andy Partridge & Harold Budd’s ‘Mantle of Peacock Bones’ with some unidentified spoken word over the top and then Mike Paradinas finishes the first set with ‘Hi-q’ of which I can find hide nor hair of on Discogs.

The second half opens with some abstract ambience and another unknown spoken word piece, presumably from Coldcut’s might Word Treasure CD library. As One’s gorgeous ’Soliel Levant’ from his debut Reflection album slides in before the Ramsey Lewis’ Charles Stepney-produced cover of ‘Dear Prudence’ chugs through with its oddball electronic intro. Exquisite Corpse were connected to the Psychic Warriors Ov Gaia and produced what I’d call trance music in the most literal definition, the sort of tribal rhythms you could perform rituals to long into the night. ‘Cantadora’ bangs hard and comes from their 1993 album Inner Light and while I’m talking definitions; Water Melon and their comrades, Major Force are about as close to ‘trip hop’ in my mind as you could get. Their amazing Out Of Body Experience EP hosts two cuts that feature in this half hour. Harder to find outside of Japan but well worth tracking down. Another from Riz’s LP in the form of ‘Foul Play’ that more than liberally samples from Lalo Schifin’s Dirty Harry/Magnum Force soundtracks before the Prunes’ makeover of DJ Vadim’s ‘Conquest of the Irrational’ single on Ninja Tune. Finishing with another Water Melon track from the aforementioned O.O.B.E. EP and we’re out – I really enjoyed rediscovering this one, I’d probably not heard it since it was recorded over 26 years ago.

Track list:
Solid Steel jingle – The film you are about to see…
A Reminiscent Drive – Everything Is As I Am
Opiate – Small Talk Whirl
Aphex Twin – Analogue Bubblebath 3 track 8
Small Fish With Spine – In Your Own Bubble
Boards of Canada – Korona
Small Fish With Spine – Fung Koo
Andy Partridge / Harold Budd – Mantle of Peacock Bones
Mike Paradinas – Hi-q

Unknown – Unknown
As One – Soliel Levant
Ramsey Lewis – Dear Prudence
Exquisite Corpse – Cantadora
Water Melon – Moon Shaker
Small Fish With Spine – Foul Play
DJ Vadim – Conquest of the Irrational (Prunes mix)
Water Melon – Slow Boat to Mars

Mid May of 1995 was another smorgasbord of eclecticism with drum n bass making in-roads onto the show playlists. After the show’s intro and a snatch from Negativland’s plunderphonic ‘The Perfect Cut’ LP we get what may be the first outing of the Wagon Christ remix of 2 Player’s ‘Extreme Possibilities’. It’s hard to convey how exciting it was to first hear this remix, possibly Luke’s premiere public foray into DnB and a now classic milestone in the Ninja Tune catalogue. That he put this much work into such a mix is incredible and for a relatively new band consisting of Jon Tye (aka MLO/Lo Recordings) and a little-known composer named Daniel Pemberton. Daniel is now a world famous soundtrack composer of course, working on films for Marvel and Ridley Scott among others, but back then he was still at school and would come to our Stealth nights at The Blue Note before going home to study for his exams. He didn’t waste any time making inroads into the studio either, hooking up with Jon on various Lo Recordings and Ntone releases, recording with the Future Sound of London and releasing his first album on Pete Namlook’s Fax label, for which I did the artwork.

More DnB clatters in next from Sounds of Life which was Rupert (Photek) Parkes and Jim from Source Direct collaborating and taking a big chunk of FSOL’s Lifeforms by the sound of it. Spacepimp’s only outing on Clear pits a 70s car chase synth bass line against a DnB rhythm too, everyone was having a go at this ‘new’ style around this time as it emerged from its jungle origins although Spacepimp was an Acen alias so it wasn’t too much of a stretch. After an ad break there’s a swirling ambience I can’t place before the legendary Jello Biafra monologue that we used on the Coldcut Journeys By DJ mix later that year which then led on to Matt and Jon hooking up with the ex-Dead Kennedy frontman to record ‘Every Home A Prison’. Alec Empire’s debut album, Generation Star Wars kicked off with the excellent ‘Lash the 90ties’, the elongated ambient intro suddenly crashing into Aphex-ish distorted beats. Mike Ink’s ‘Rosenkranz’ came from one of the early Sahko releases and this jaunty, marching track is in stark contrast to his then usual 150bpm driving acid techno.

G-Man was Gez Varley from LFO on his first solo outing via the Swim label and this absolutely banging piece of techno is such a joy to hear, despite my fumbled mix with Mike Ink at one point. I must have visited Vienna recently because Elin’s ‘Mondlandung’ is featured and I remember Pita aka Peter Rehberg (RIP) giving me copies of the first few Mego releases when we played there of which this was the second. Soon after comes the masterful Autechre remix of Beaumont Hannant’s Psi-Onyx – all 9 minutes + of it with Ae on peak form – ah the memories… Flanging in over the end beats is a track from Caustic Visions, a group who originally debuted on Industrial Strength with nosebleed acid techno before releasing steadily more experimental fair on their own label, influenced by Aphex Twin and beyond. ‘Corner of a Sphere’ comes from their fourth self-released EP and is well worth investigating if you see a copy and enjoy forward-thinking electronica. ‘Lunatic Jam’ by Germany’s Fauna Flash takes a large chunk of DJ Food’s ‘Dark Blood’ and builds a soulful track around it, from their debut 12” on Compost. We get a snatch of the Jedi Knights’ remix of ‘Antacid’ and then it appears the tape switches to Aphex’s ‘Ventolin’ except it may be from one of my own mixes that I’d taped over as the presence of my old flange pedal in the mix is a telling sign of the era.

Track list:
Solid Steel – intro jingle
Negativland – The Perfect Cut
2 Player – Extreme Possibilities (Wagon Christ mix)
Sounds of Life – Intellect
Spacepimp – Space Chase
Unknown – Unknown
Jello Biafra – A Message From Our Sponsor
Alec Empire – Lash the 90ties
Mike Ink – Rosenkranz
G-Man – Legion
Elin – Mondlandung
Beaumont Hannant – Psi-Onyx (Psix Million Dollar Myx Oscar Goldman’s Bonus)
Caustic Visions – Corner of a Sphere
Fauna Flash – Lunatic Jam
Link & E621 – Antacid (Jedi Knights remix)
Aphex Twin – Ventolin (Deep Gong mix)

What a time for music, early 1995 and not only did we have the hugely anticipated new single from DJ Shadow but also Aphex Twin’s Ventolin EP and Fatboy Slim’s debut single when he was still in downtempo mode with ‘The Weekend Starts Here’. After ‘In/Flux’ blew up, not only for Shadow but by putting MoWax into a higher orbit, everyone was waiting for new music from Josh Davis and he delivered big time with a four part 30 minute single called ’What Does Your Soul Look Like’. The first half of the show covers three of the parts, available on a set of three blue vinyl 10” promos inside sleeves that joined together. Interspersed between them is the Fatboy with the Weekend Bonus Beats version of his single and Death’s sole release (aka Thomas Heckmann) on Trope, a modular bleep-fest called ‘Electronic Realisations Chapter 4’. Following ‘What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4’ come three ‘Ventolin’ mixes from Aphex, the second, the Deep Gong mix, is by Wagon Christ and a snatch of the London Funk Allstars’ ‘Listen To The Beat’ appears before the tape runs out.

Track list:
DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 1
Faboy Slim – The Weekend Starts Here
DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 3
Death – Electronic Realisations Chapter 4
DJ Shadow – What Does Your Soul Look Like Part 4
Aphex Twin – Ventolin (Crowsmengegus Mix)
Aphex Twin – Ventolin (Deep Gong Mix)
Aphex Twin – Ventolin (Marazanvose Mix)

We’re still in the early 00s here with a mid November 2002 set that includes a few boots/mash ups and a lot of great RnB / Hip Pop. A strong start to the show with the remix of DJ Shadow’s ’Six Days’ featuring Mos Def, this was undoubtedly the most hyped track of his second LP, The Private Press, and a no-brainer for a single makeover. Nice little cut up with the Solid Steel jingle and the ‘it’s only Monday’ lyric (our show used to got out on Monday nights on BBC London at this time). I don’t know which came first, this mix on the tour with Amon Tobin but I was dropping the Streets/Fine Young Cannibals/Gloria Jones combo in DJ sets around that time although it’s one of the only times I played anything by Mike Skinner as it wasn’t my bag at all, the baseline in the High Contrast remix was the catalyst. Adding Gloria Jones’ ’Tainted Love’ with the rhythm the FYC stole after was a no brainer.

I was deep into the mash up thing at this time and Dsico was an Australian producer whose productions I liked a lot, his extreme cut up/glitch styles going way further than most on the scene, riffing off that Kid 606 sound but with plenty of funk. He appears here twice, first dismembering Beyonce and later dicing with Puff Daddy, by this time, P Diddy. A sharp contrast is Joni Mitchell who I’d suddenly ‘got’ and hoovered up a load of albums on tour in the US, weird how tastes change and then one day an artist just makes sense, I’d had the same thing with the Beach Boys a couple of years before. ‘Dry Cleaner from Des Moines’ is from her Mingus album but I’m not sure what I was thinking adding it in here with way too much ‘jazz scratching’ to boot.

RJD2’s excellent ‘Final Frontier’ from his debut, Deadringer begins a trio of rap tracks followed by the ‘Halfway Home’ interlude from Blacklicious’ Blazing Arrow album. This was produced by DJ Shadow and is hard as nails, search for an amazing remix of this by UK producer Awkward which really bangs. N.O.R.E.’s ‘Nothin’ is such a simple tune, a straight loop of basic drum, bumping bass and that haunting flute top line, loose as anything and reliant on the vocals to provide a chorus. The genius of the Neptunes right there although having Noreaga on the mic helps too and I think his ‘SuperThug’ track from four years before was the first time I ever heard a Neptunes production. They had virtually taken over at this point, issuing track after track with different vocalists that were classics as soon as they hit the dance floor. I let the instrumental run out of Blacklicious, add the Discover Hip Hop advert that gives the mix its name and then off into the radio edit of the vocal.

Randy Maverick’s ‘Pure Love’ is funk 45 heaven and still gets spun – I just looked him up and this is his sole release on Discogs, I’d presumed it was some sort of reissue/re-edit at the time but it seems it was a remix of Al Reed’s ’99 444/100 Pure Love’ by the Nextmen and the Maverick name was a cover. I’ve just heard the original for the first time and they did a great job, the definition of a remix breathing new life into an old song. You can find the Randy Maverick for £6 on Discogs which is a lot cheaper than the Al Reed. DJ First Rate (or just First Rate later on) put out a 3 track sampler in 2002 with a demo mix of ‘One Day’ on it which would later surface on his first album proper in 2005 and it’s doing my head in as to where that bass comes from. Reminds me a bit of Air with those little synths flourishes.

Into some crazy versions next with the second Dsico cut up of P Diddy’s ‘Diddy’ then a mash of Tweet’s ‘Oops (Oh My)’, The Gap Band’s ‘Oops Upside Your Head (see what they did there?) and Bob Marley(!). It sort of works in places but is mercifully short. Lightning Head is Glyn ‘Bigga’ Bush with his dub hat on, here versioning Jean Jacques-Perry’s ‘E.V.A.’ which, of course, then leads onto Gang Starr who chopped up the original many years before. Skanking along in the mix for a good while is The Cinematic Orchestra’s ‘Horizon’, a stand alone single that followed the ‘Every Day’ album and should have been a huge hit in a just world. This whole section really rocks along nicely and I’m layering up extra FX over the top, I might try and re-work this into the DJ set. Next we head to Brighton for a Limp Twins cut and DJ Format remixed by Pablo of the Psychonauts who whips ‘B-Boy Code’ up into a chugging break-fest that was a set staple for a good while. I can’t remember where the ‘Discover Hip Hop’ spoken word came from but it’s not on the original record. There’s some genius sampling on this, pairing old school rap bars from different records to make a new verse.

John Kennedy’s ‘Chocolate & Cheese’ has something I can’t put my finger on but I like it. Tony Touch’s ‘The Diaz Brothers’ I can only take in instrumental form though as it samples David Shire’s ‘Salsation’ from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, the same tune that Lightning Head covers on ‘Mudman Skank’ so it was a no-brainer to put them together. I have to apologise for what comes next but you can always switch off as it’s the last track, a mash up of Eminem and Phil Collins that I thought was a good idea at the time. By matching the former’s ‘Cleanin’ Out My Closet’ and the latter’s ‘Mama’ I thought there was some fun to be had. To be fair, it does work in the verses with a nice tension building but the choruses are a painful mess – sorry about that, bit of a duff ending to the hour.

Track list:
DJ SHADOW – SIX DAYS (REMIX feat. MOS DEF)
THE STREETS – HAS IT COME TO THIS (HIGH CONTRAST REMIX)
FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS – GOOD THING
GLORIA JONES – TAINTED LOVE
BEYONCE – WORK IT OUT (DSICO 160 MIX)
JONI MITCHELL – DRY CLEANER FROM DES MOINES
RJD2 – FINAL FRONTIER feat BLUEPRINT
BLACKALICOUS – HALFWAY HOME (INTERLUDE)
N.O.R.E. – NOTHIN’
RANDY MAVERICK – PURE LOVE
DJ FIRST RATE – ONE DAY (Demo Mix) feat. JOHN MACALLUM
P DIDDY – DIDDY (DSICO CUT UP)
MIXED BIZNESS – OOPS TO BE LOVED
LIGHTNING HEAD – E.V.A.
GANG STARR – JUST TO GET A REP
CINEMATIC ORCHESTRA – HORIZON
THE LIMP TWINS – MOVIN’ CLOSER TO THE SOFA
DJ FORMAT – B- BOY CODE (PSYCHOPAB REMIX)
JOHN KENNEDY – CHOCOLATE & CHEESE
TONY TOUCH – THE DIAZ BROS (INSTRUMENTAL)
LIGHTNING HEAD – MUDMAN SKANK
FLEXUS – I’M SORRY MAMA

A true mixed bag with this set from March 2003, opening with Dark Circle from their Jazz Fudge release bolstered by a double time Flytronix DnB tune with a fine filtered horn line. The original listing for McKay’s acappella that I float over the top was wrong, it’s actually ‘Rising Tide’ rather than ‘Bluesin’ It’ – check her stuff, she’s made some great music with the likes of Boca 45, DJ Spinna and Katalyst over the years. Spanish producers Camping Gaz and Digi Random drop a tune from their 3rd and final EP together before Nino Nardini stomps in with Afro-Beat. I’m not sure where this version comes from but I think it’s different from the one put out on a 45 by Jazzman which I still play out on occasion. I always like Def Tex’s approach to hip hop, never afraid to switch things up and ‘Dancehaul’ is no exception, tight beats and scratches and lyrics all over the rhythm. Pepe Deluxe’s ‘Salami Fever’ was the first time they caught my ear with the crazed cut up of beats, power chords and scratching and they’ve not deviated far from this path for the last 20 years despite various psychedelic adventures.

Nostalgia 77 aka Ben Lamdin put out many a great 45 on Tru Thoughts in the 00s and it’s great to see he’s still releasing material, the latest being an album on the aformentioned Jazzman. I must dig this out again as I’d forgotten it – HUGE Beatles sample! Taskforce get jiggy on ‘Rockstarz’ which comes from the Low Life Records’ compilation Main Courses -Food. Things take a turn with Plasikman’s ‘Kriket’ and Lisa Maffia’s ‘All Over’ acappella which is a pairing I used to do regularly in DJ sets around this time before we journey over to Montreal for Sixtoo and MattH and the first release on the Bully label. Mostly dealing in screen-printed, hand assembled 7”s, the label, run by the mysterious Marco, put out around 30 experimental beat-led releases from 2003 onwards including a Silver Apples album at one point! Loads of great stuff on the label and the records are beautiful objects.

Aah, it’s great to hear this Gray Market Goods track again, a release by my old friend Bundy K Brown for which I also supplied a meticulously drawn homage to Vaughn Bode for the sleeve. We’ve been chatting a bit online of late about various states of the music industry and I always respect his take on things. He has a unique way of putting together samples that never bores me and is rewarded by repeated listens, this Herbie Hancock-sampling groove being no exception. Herbie was a big love of Bundy’s and he hipped me to the Mwandishi Band era stuff when I first visited the US looking for records in the mid 90s. The killer wah wah groove of the Stark Reality is up next from the ‘Now’ compilation on Stones Row around this time, with ‘All You Need To Make Music’ which runs through the various differences between musical notes. I noticed that this version is just over 8 minutes but on the original Hoagy Carmichael’s Music Shop LP it’s over 12 minutes!

Back to the future next for Wagon Christ’s remix of Tipper’s ‘Donut’ – a match made in heaven I think. Dan Snaith’s Manitoba (before he had to change it to Caribou) up next with the lengthily-titled ‘If Assholes Could Fly,This Place Would Be An Airport’ which is all 2-Step beats and Amen breaks, overlaid with spoken word from Yoshinori Sunahara’s ‘Tokyo Underground Airport’ – a concept single about said airport. The record comes in a gatefold gold printed sleeve with picture disc, booklet and sticker sheet, all designed immaculately as only the Japanese can. Sunahara has made many airport or airline-themed records over the years. Da Boo’s lone release, the Herbie Hancock-sampling (again) ‘Spark This’ underpins the end of the show with a lengthy dialogue from Bell Telephone Labs which comes from a strange double album I found of spoken word entirely about computers from serious science to comedic skits.

Track list:
Dark Circle – That’s Cool
Flytronix – Zig Zag (Alternative DJ mix)
McKay – Rising Tide (acapella)
Camping Gaz & Digital Random – Gazoul (Camping Gaz Symphony 3)
Nino Nardini – Afro-Beat
Def Tex – Dancehaul
Pepe Deluxe – Salami Fever
Nostagia 77 – The Goat
Taskforce – Rockstarz (remix)
Plastikman – Kriket
Lisa Maffia – All Over (acapella)
Sixtoo & MattH – webeganhearingthings
Gray Market Goods – We Live In The Future
Stark Reality – All You Need To Make Music
Tipper – Donut (Wagon Christ remix)
Manitoba – If Assholes Could Fly…
Yoshinori Sunahara – Tokyo Underground Airport
Da Boo – Spark This
Bell Telephone Labs – Computer Speech

The missing #172 upload (no, I didn’t notice either until a couple of weeks later). This is one of the tapes my ex-wife had squirrelled away that she wanted digitised and it’s one I didn’t have a copy of, a short set drifting from jazz to hip hop to funk and pop. The set starts with a classic Solid Steel jingle, ‘The Ninth World’ read, I think, by Matt Black’s dad.

Around the mid-late 90s the Ninja crew were regularly DJing across Europe and thus had access to piles of ECM jazz at cheap prices and bassist Barre Philips was a particular favourite of mine along with Jon Abercrombie and Eberhard Weber. Stanley Clarke’s ‘Concerto for Jazz / Rock Orchestra’ was on my radar as I was so into the sample at the end of DJ Shadow’s In/Flux on the Headz 2 compilation that I had to track it down. I ran upon a copy of his Journey To Love LP in the now closed Discovel (sp?) record shop in Montreal – you’ll know the part when you hear it. Echoes was an alias of my old friend Bundy K. Brown, ex of Tortoise and a future collaborator at this point in time, ‘Continental Drift’ was new back when this was recorded and was apparently very influential on a young Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet. Bundy worked in the Chicago record store Dusty Groove and was a little more keyed into what was happening on the electronic music scene than the other members of the band and made several sample-heavy beats and jazz-infused tracks and remixes around this time which caught my ear.

There’s an identified track at the end of the Echoes single, a distorted drum thing for a minute or so but I can’t identify it. KRS-One’s ‘Step Into A World’ was also new around 1997, transposing ‘The Champ’ into a new form alongside Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ which is why the Mohawks original comes next. Part 2’s ‘Automatic’ and ‘Prelude To Cycle 6’ were both taken from his sole EP for Jazz Fudge which was also current and one of the series of sleeves I put together for the label. The Human League’s ‘Being Boiled’ slots between them and needs no introduction, not sure why I felt the need to feature it here though. Water Melon’s cover of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Albatross’ is something you wouldn’t immediately equate with the Japanese group but it totally works and is just one of the treasures to be found of the Pussyfoot label’s ‘Fish Smell Like Cat’ compilation album.

Track list:
Barre Phillips – Mountain Scape
Stanley Clarke – Concerto For Jazz / Rock Orchestra
Echoes – Continental Drift
KRS One – Step Into A World (Rapture’s Delight)
The Mohawks – Champ
Part 2 – Automatic
The Human League – Being Boiled
Part 2 – Prelude To Cycle 6
Water Melon – Albatross

A mix of two halves, broadcast 21 years ago with a rap-heavy first half and a Xmas-themed second. LCD’s second single was a short, sharp shock of a 7” after the extended epics of their debut 12” and proved they weren’t a one-hit wonder. I saw them play it that year at the Supersonic festival in Birmingham and met James and Nancy backstage, before they went stratospheric. I remember dropping Un-cut’s ‘Midnight’ at the appropriate hour on New Year’s Eve in Newcastle that year, paired with the Gift of Gab monologue during his mix of DJ Shadow’s ‘Midnight In A Perfect World’ and the place going off. The Christina Aguilera Drum n Bass mix was so rough and ready it would pummel any naysayers into submission (same with Beyoncé and Britney mixes of the same era). Any decent pop song of the age would get a white label DnB makeover by someone for a few years in the early 00’s, it may well be the same now but I don’t check for them. Most were sold in specialist shops around London with no info other than a title and I’ve still no idea who made this one. Into the hip hop now with Notts’ finest The P Brothers from their Heavy Bronx Experience series #4 featuring Eddie Cheeba and Sadat X from over the pond – hard as nails golden era styles made in the UK.

Perverted Monks were a collective associated with Afu-Ra and Jeru The Damaga but never quite hit their heights. The imaginatively-titled ‘Freestyle’, from their third single uses the backing tracks from Nas’ ’Nothin’ and another I forget as a bed, one of a number of those Bollywood-sampling hip hop tracks from around this time, kicked off by Missy’s ‘Get UR Freak On’. Soulwax makeover DJ Shadow’s ‘6 Days’ with a blatant re-edit of the B-52’s ’52 Girls’ and it just works. This was during the height of the mash up craze and they were riding high on the success of their ‘As Heard on Radio Soulwax 2’ compilation. It only appeared on a promo 12” and I’d bet it was a European A&R decision to get them to remix Shadow as it doesn’t fit into anything he was doing at that stage. Punjabi MC’s tune was huge in the UK with it’s jingling hook and Knight Rider bass line, as ubiquitous as Missy’s the year before, getting reworks all over the place in a multitude of styles. The Old School mix was by a duo billed as Banks and Sullivan who seem to have a number of aliases with one release to their name on Discogs. A mystery white label using the a cappella from ‘OK’ by RnB pop band Big Brovaz over ‘Mundian To Bach Ke’ was something I used to play a lot in sets and may or may not have been legal. Dan The Automator revisits his own production again for a third rework of ‘Bear Witness’ from the Dr Octagon album with Q Bert back on cuts before Edan smokes the party with his own ‘MC’s Smoke Crack’ remix. Pitman lightens the mood with his Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock pastiche and the Polyphonic Spree arrive to prepare us for the Christmas section of the mix.

It’s fair to say that my Xmas mixes maybe aren’t the kind of thing you’d want to put on in the background as you unwrap your presents or tuck into dinner, they swerve all over the place like a Santa who’s had too many brandy’s. Or indeed the manic Ella Fitzgerald version of ‘Jingle Bells’ I try to valiantly keep in time over Tino’s ‘Christmas Is Here’. I wanted to include ‘Coldcut’s Christmas Break’ but it’s generally so terrible I could only manage a few minutes (sorry Matt and Jon but we’ve had this conversation). But how easy is it to make a credible Xmas record? I’d say very difficult and the ones I can happily hear on any given day of the year let alone during the Yuletide period would fit in a very small stocking. The Treacherous 3’s effort occupies a special place because of its inclusion in the Beat Street film and their beat box gag with a young Doug E. Fresh at the end. Milly & Silly’s 1973 ‘Getting Down For Xmas’ is from the Christmas Groove compilation and the mix of Bubba Sparxx’s ‘Ugly’ and Wings’ ‘Wonderful Christmastime’ weirdly works somehow. This was no doubt downloaded from the web amid the whole mash up craze of the time, hence no credit and the inclusion of snippets of early Cassetteboy from their Festive Christmas CD around the mix. The mood takes a darker turn with Hell Interface (aka Boards of Canada) and their ‘Soylent Night’ from the V/Vm Whine & Missing Toe CD until Tino rides back in to save the day with an ethereal jingle groove. Sirconical is usually known for huge, crashing beats but his take on ‘Silent Night’ is genuinely beautiful and comes from the Twisted Nerve Christmas Stocking Filler 7”.

OK, that’s it for this year, have a good one, see you on the other side as I take a break for a week and come back with more 90’s cassette encodings in 2024. Thanks to all subscribers new and old, especially those who have hung in there for the whole hog, I think I can see the end in sight finally as the CDr folder is nearly done, the DAT box is dry and the cassette drawers are nearing completion – I reckon the mix archive could be completed next year. Although there is that USB from Paul Johnson still to go through…

Track list:
LCD Soundsystem – Give It Up
Un-cut – Midnight (MIST 2003 mix)
Christina Aguilera – Dirrty (D&B mix)
The P Brothers – Come On Down
Perverted Monks – Freestyle
DJ Shadow – 6 Days (Soulwax mix)
Punjabi MC – Mundian To Bach Ke (Oldskool mix)
Big Brovaz – OK (Punjabi Rmx)
Dan the Automator – Bear Witness III (Once Again)
Edan – MCs Smoke Crack (remix)
Pitman – It Takes Tea
The Polyphonic Spree – Soldier Girl (Orchestral)
Tino – Christmas Is Here
Ella Fitzgerald – Jingle Bells
Coldcut – Coldcuts’ Christmas Break (edit)
Treacherous 3 feat. Doug E. Fresh – Santas’ Rap
Milly & Silly – Getting Down For X-mas
Unknown – Ugly Xmas
Hell Interface – Soylent Night
Tino – Green Christmas
Sirconical – Silent Night

Sorry this is a bit late, Mixcloud seemingly deleted the original upload that I made last week. I also just noticed that I missed MS172 – which is all ready to go but will have to wait until next year as I have a Xmas mix for next week.

I’m not sure why this is called a ‘Tour Mix’, it’s not a live set for sure but I could have conceivably made it on the laptop on tour – maybe I was out with DK promoting our ’Now, Listen Again’ mix CD, I’d have to check dates. Anyway – Zero db tackle Sun Ra for the opening and I think this only came out on their own Reconstruction compilation of remixes rather than on any official Sun Ra release. John Cale then trades places with James Murphy for his LCD Soundsystem cover, which sounds a bit strained and painful in hindsight now. Next up is the first of three Mr76ix tracks from his 3 (Minority of 1) album on Skam with a magnificent tempo switch down into Def Tex’s ‘Bomber’ – what a bassline! Def Tex were great, always inventive hip hop and this was from their second album on Son Records.

Battles seemed to explode out of nowhere but they’d already made three singles before signing to the label and ‘Race:In’ came from their debut LP, Mirrored. Kidkanevil’s ‘5th Gear’ features Latyrx’s Lateef The Truthspeaker in a horny flute ode to getting down to it with a subtlety rarely present in rap. But here’s another with Pharaoh Monch expertly remixed by Optima Espacio into some sort of slow build electro gospel banger. There’s a guitar solo over a breakdown FFS! Keeping on the love-tip; an overlooked DJ Shadow B side from his Outsider album era sees him mining a psych funk angle on ‘Love, Love’. This was only on the CD single and later download of the ‘This Time’ single, no idea why it didn’t make the album and the non-LP cuts and remixes were frequently better than some of the material on that record IMO.

Oh Pepe Deluxe, how I loved (and still do love) their Spare Time Machine album, two tracks here sum it up – tightly constructed, immaculately produced sunshine psychedelia. They really string out the intro to ‘Apple Thief’ but when it kicks in it’s well worth the wait. ‘Go For Blue’ also inspired a colour-based mix of songs shortly after this including ‘Purple Rain’, ‘Mellow Yellow’ and ‘Mr Blue Sky’ but that’s already on the web. I’m wondering where I heard Candie Payne’s track from as I don’t remember buying it, maybe a promo or a compilation – whatever, she’s got that 60s doom pop sound nailed. Mr76ix sounds like he’s been listening to the last track on Selected Ambient Works II and put some rave beats to it and Battles are back again with the epic ‘Atlas’ – remember that great video of them in the mirrored box? Mr76ix plays out over the breakdown of this with a beautiful beat-less piece called ‘Romanticism’ before we’re back into that drawn out guitar trade off that builds into the final section.

Track list:
Sun Ra – Satellites Are Spinning (Zero db remix)
LCD Soundsystem – All My Friends (John Cale version)
Mr76ix – H.A.A.R.P.
Def Tex – Bomber
Battles – Race:In
Kidkanevil – 5th Gear feat. Lateef The Truthspeaker
Pharoah Monch – Body Baby (Optimo Espacio mix)
DJ Shadow – Love, Love
Pepe Deluxe – Apple Thief
Pepe Deluxe – Go For Blue
Candie Payne – I Wish I Could Have Loved You More
Mr76ix – Spirit of Man
Battles – Atlas
Mr76ix – Romanticism

Nineteen years ago today this show aired on Solid Steel and served as a round up of a current crop of music that had come my way over the previous months. There’s a large rap quota in this hour-long set, mostly from the independent sector and what you could call ‘backpack rap’ (although I wouldn’t). A particularly trippy Solid Steel jingle opens the show by Pedro Chamorra and I have no idea who Levi is/was or where the track featuring BC and Saul Williams came from, nothing’s coming up on Discogs. Diplo’s ‘Big Lost’ is from his debut Florida LP and is still a classic, DK and I were such a fan of this record and props to Big Dada for spotting his talent early on. Not sure if the northern chaps chatting about record collecting over the top are Mark and Lard from 6 Music (or were they on XFM back then?). Natural Self was putting out 45s in the early 00’s on Tru Thoughts and here remixes The Limp Twins (Will ‘Quantic’ Holland and Russell Porter) from the Shapes Yellow TT comp. More Brighton-based music next from the Catskills label with a track from Infinite Potential’s debut 12”, As The Record Revolves – some very tight scratching on that.

The Perceptionists were a US group including Mr Lif and Akrobatik and ’Medical Aid’ was one half of a split debut 12” with another group, 4th Pyramid on Definitive Jux. Mark Rae’s ‘Reach Out To Me’ was from his third album, Into The Depths, with vocals by Veba – should have been a big hit. Busdriver’s first album for Big Dada contained the ‘Kev’s Blistering Computer…’ track and I just found out that he did a third for the label in 2014 that completely passed me by somehow. I loved Busdriver most of all of that Mush crowd, full of personality and an incredible flow, love how the DJ D-Styles cuts up the little blip noise from Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ for the chorus here too. In the liner notes Busdriver is credited with ‘Vocal Tension & Lyrical Release’, D-Styles with ’Turntable Blasphemy’ and producer Daddy Kev with ‘Strange Rhythmic Noise’. Diverse with Vast Aire came from the Chocolate Industries label as they moved into hip hop territory, with production by RJD2, another artist – like Diplo – who was adjacent to DJ Shadow in the production stakes around this time.

Back over to the UK for Bristol’s Hundred Strong which was the brainchild of Ben from the Purple Penguin record shop, always a destination when we hit the city in the 90s. I used to get sent M.Craft promos in the 00s and I always REALLY loved a couple of tracks on them, I really should investigate his back catalogue a bit more, seems this was from his debut single on 679 Recordings. I don’t recall this Massive Attack song at all, it sounds more like a Barry Adamson take on The Man With The Golden Gun than the band’s usual material. Seems it was from a soundtrack they did to a film called Danny The Dog which can be had extremely cheaply on Discogs although it looks like it was done by 3D alone without Daddy G from the credits.

Quannum released a double A-sided single for their US tour in 2004 and this is the Shadow-produced cut, all drum machines and synths rather than samples and points the way to his work later on. Blade’s ‘Scream’ came from his ‘Pop Idol’ single and is that Mr Thing on the cuts? DFA’s Juan MacLean work over Air in fine electro ‘drug chug’ style before the term was even coined. Sounds like I was caning outer space samples from Megatrip’s Soundbank CDs over the top too. 4 Hero go all Beatles-y with the mellotron on their remix of Chunking’s ‘Making Music’ (another Brighton band!) and then it’s back to the Anitcon crew with Sixtoo from his Ninja Tune 10” ‘BodyAche Summer’ EP – yet another producer up there with Shadow but moving in his own directions. In between this and Max & Harvey’s ‘Untitled Dialogue’ (another 10” on Ninja) I use a piece of speech about seeing sound that I would later fashion into a track on my Search Engine album. One half of Max & Harvey (named after the duo’s dogs I think I was once told) was Paul Frankland aka Woob and also Journeyman – they only released one single on Ninja but all their other releases are available on their Bandcamp and are excellent.
https://maxandharvey.bandcamp.com/music

Track list:
Pedro Chamorra – Solid Steel intro
Levi feat. BC & Saul Williams – Resource : Life
Diplo – Big Lost
The Limp Twins – A Day in The Life Of Mr. Jones (Natural Self mix)
Infinite Potential – Can You Dig That?
The Perceptionists – Medical Aid
Mark Rae – Reach Out To Me
Busdriver – Kev’s Blistering Computer Tan And Driver’s Rapper’s Rapper Moniker
Diverse feat. Vast Aire – Big Game
Hundred Strong feat. Joseph Malik – All Ain’t The Same
M.Craft – On The 389
Massive Attack – One Thought At A Time
Quannum – Put Yer Back Into It
Blade – Scream
Air – Surfing On a Rocket (Juan MacLean remix)
Chungking – Making Music (4 Hero remix instr.)
Sixtoo – Waiting For Anything
Max & Harvey – Untitled Dialogue

Summer 2003 and I’ve no idea what the opening use of Pinocchio’s clock sequence was intended to convey but lots of the food-related spoken word overlaid came from Megatrip’s excellent sample collection that he’d send to us via CDr. John Book’s ‘eBay Trauma Centre’ comes from the first Tru Thoughts compilation ‘Shapes One’ and is – I think – the only track released under his own name so far, his band Crut however, have released plenty. I’d just discovered Mr. Bungle’s amazing ‘California’ album via old school friend Steven Baker (RIP) and still hold it in high regard as their masterwork to this day – I seriously recommend it as an example of incredible song writing collage and masterful playing, I mean come on, Dave Lombardo plays drums and a song called ‘None of them knew they were robots’ has to be good, right?. Not being a Streets fan I used the instrumental, non-Mike Skinner vocal version of Grafiti vs The Bug’s only single and filled in some of the vocals with spoken word snippets from Megatrip’s aforementioned Soundbank collection. I’d only just discovered Akufen’s My Way LP from the previous year and absolutely caned it around this time, still a peerless release that will forever be associated with painting a picture for my Dad’s 60th birthday where I listened to it on repeat.

Amalgamation of Sounds, always good value, LFO’s ‘Freak’ absolutely killer tune, RIP Mark Bell, caned that Five Deez ‘Funky’ a cappella for years over all sorts of tracks in clubs with DK. Hey, this mix is pretty slamming now, oh here comes DJ Zinc with Dynamite MC to tear the roof off with ‘People 4’, one of his most creative tunes of the era, a beats/rap match made in heaven. Big tempo switch up and then Reprazent homies Krust and Die cut in with a further switch up from 33 to 45rpm – this section is reminiscent of my club sets at the time, fast-moving shifts through different styles and we’re into the Nextmen and Cyantific’s computer game-flavoured ‘High Scores’ before sliding into another DnB cut that Spotify tells me is ‘Future Sonic’ by Tele Music but I have no memory of. Dipping out of the club and back into radio land with another Mr Bungle cut, ‘The Air Conditioned Nightmare’. This is another example of the band’s seamless collage style, mixing examples of different artists and musical styles into one song and making it work. I swear I once heard a live set from them where they sounded like they were tuning through a radio dial and switching music styles every few bars.

The mix into Jackson’s ‘Utopia’ isn’t too smooth but this track is similar to Akufen’s in that it takes tiny snatches of voice and re-edits them into a patchwork melody, the female vocal was a recording of his mother apparently and this was played from the original French release before he got picked up by Warp. I really should have taken it out of the mix faster rather than leave it under the Matthew Herbert Big Band, it’s painful. I loved this record (Goodbye Swingtime) and Matt’s move away from his earlier experiments for a full live band experience. Seeing them at The Big Chill one year blew me away – always inspirational. Four Tet needs no introduction of course but back in 2003 he was still building his rep with this single from his third album, Rounds. Next up, the Returner is a lesser-used alias of Mark Pritchard, creating a fine DJ tool in his ‘Throwdown No.1’ of which I proceed to cut up two copies before editing into Loon’s Schoolly D-quoting, Kelis-featuring ‘How Do You Want That’. This was a Neptunes-esque production despite not being by them and shows how much they’d influenced contemporary hip hop by this point. We finish up with Schoolly’s classic ‘Saturday Night’ because, why not? Live two copy cut ups from DJ Code Money, you can even hear the records jump and wobble in places, pure hip hop and swearing on record way before NWA made it hip. I think the final spoken word coda may have been from John Cage although it sounds like someone impersonating him rather than his actual voice.

Track list:
Pinnochio – Clock Sequence
John Book – eBay Trauma Centre
Mr Bungle – None of Them Knew They Were Robots
Grafiti vs The Bug – What IS The Problem?
Akufen – Late Night Munchies
Amalgamation of Sounds – Sharm
LFO – Freak
Five Deez – Funky (a cappella)
DJ Zinc feat. Dynamite MC – People 4
Krust & Die – Movin’ Fast
The Nextmen feat. Cyantific – High Score
Tele Music – Future Sonic
Mr Bungle – The Air Conditioned Nightmare
Jackson – Utopia
The Matthew Herbert Big Band – Misprints
Four Tet – As Serious As Your Life
The Returner – Throwdown No.1
Loon feat. Kelis – How Do You Want That
Schoolly D – Saturday Night

This cassette was amongst a batch of tapes given to me recently by my ex-wife that she wanted digitised and probably dates from around early 1997. It’s also a very short tape as the whole mix is only 30 minutes long and that’s both sides! The Outer Limits (and later, Alexei Sayle) both hail from the original Comic Strip Presents album, recorded live at the Comedy Store before The Young Ones TV show propelled them all to fame. The Average White Band’s ‘Work To Do’ used to be on our answerphone, partly in jest that I used to work all hours and Sister Goose & The Ducklings ‘Super Shine #9’ is from the Gordon’s War OST. Marc Moulin was a new passion around this time due to a dodgy boot ‘reissue’ of his Sam’ Suffy album and the (re)discovery of his band, Placebo. You’ll notice a high quota of French artists on this tape as my ex is a huge Francophile and I wanted to showcase a few bits for her. Yusef Lateef is from his excellent Gentle Giant LP and the Gainsbourg cut was probably from some dodgy bootleg compilation as there were many floating round at the time.

Dimitri From Paris opens the B side with a fake trailer from the La Yellow 357 compilation on Yellow Productions. DJ Cam’s track is from his debut LP, Underground Vibes which is followed by the exceedingly un-French ‘Detttwork SouthEast’ by Black Twang, a perfect encapsulation of the South London vibe on vinyl. Blackanized 360 never really get remembered but this Edinburgh duo had some tunes back in the day when Acid Jazz was turning into Trip Hop and ‘Vibe’brations is from their debut 12” – ironically sampling the same source as an early Blackalicious 12” – it can be had for pennies on Discogs. The Herbaliser up next with their second single from their forthcoming second album, Blow Your Headphones, featuring What What and an oddity to close with Steady B’s ‘Rocking Music’. This is really a DJ track, sans Steady but featuring his DJ, Tat Money, and bears similarities to Jazzy Jeff’s ‘A Touch Of Jazz’ before the tape runs out.

Track list:
The Outer Limits – Lenny Flowers
Average White Band – Work To Do
Sister Goose & The Ducklings – Super Shine #9
Marc Moulin – Humpty Dumpty
Yussef Lateef – Jungle Plum
Serge Gainsbourg – Meurtre á l’extincteur
Alexei Sayle – Break
Dimitri From Paris – Bande Announce (The Trailer)
DJ Cam – Dieu Reconnaitra Les Siens
Blak Twang – Dettwork SouthEast
Blacka’nized 360 – Vibe,brations
The Herbaliser – New & Improved feat. What What
Steady B – Rockin’ Music

More hoovering up the recent crop of promos and new finds in the second Bits & Bobs show of 2007 (not too great with the titles there but I was juggling 20 month old twins at the time).
Starting concurrently, the Emperor Machine remix of White Line Circus makes an excellent bed for Break Reform’s ‘Cut A Map In The Soles of my Feet’ even if I say so myself. Both killer tunes in their own right and I seem to remember that the La Boca sleeve design for ‘Rocket Ride’ is one of their best of the era when they were designers for DC Recordings and the label bearly put a foot wrong for a few years. The Bamboos, still going strong on Tru Thoughts, this time with Ohmega Watts paraphrasing Double Trouble’s ‘At the Amphitheatre’ rap from Wild Style. Skipping a couple of tracks I had completely forgotten that Lost Idol made stuff with heavy beats like this, always one to watch for, glad I was hip to his stuff in 2007. Kids In Tracksuits featured a certain Matt Cutler who most will now know as Lone and I think this track comes from their ‘Get Your Kit On’ EP.

The RamaSutra track is a bit of a tune, seems it was one of the last things he put out in 2003, not sure how I was playing it in 2007. Bit of a sharp cut into !!!’s ‘Myth Takes’ and then into AmmonContact’s ’Drum Riders’ from their album on Ninja at the time, Cut Chemist on the cuts. DJ Dren’s ‘Wot Da Hell’ is from the excellent ‘CTRL C / CTRL V’ comp from 33 Throwdown Recordings, must dig that out again as it has all sorts of cut up goodness on it. Remix heat from Cherrystones for Pedro and more Emperor Machine, this time on his own track but again with a female vocal over it from another track, I seemed to have a thing for this at the time. The song in question is Stephanie Dosen’s cover of ‘Within Without You’ which doesn’t quite work tuning-wise and certainly should have been mixed out by the time The Dragons’ ‘Peace Garden’ arrives in the mix. We were on the cusp of releasing their unissued debut album on Ninja at the time and this track comes from a soundtrack, ‘A Sea For Yourself’.

Up next, an unidentified vocal talking about originality before an Eno track from the second compilation of Curiosities, a pair of collections put together by one of Eno’s studio assistants at the time I believe from selections of the vast catalogue of unreleased material he had. Having been absorbed in Eno’s Lighthouse station on Sonos for most of this and last year – a constant stream of over 400 previously unreleased tracks from his archive – I can see what prompted these CDs. They were meant to be a series but only two were ever released, maybe they didn’t sell or maybe the compiler moved on? Friction = Fire’s Dunmore East was the last track on an Irish compilation on the Alphabet Set label which I must have been given when I performed one of the Head soundtrack gigs over there and Peter Wyngarde’s short outro comes from the actor’s very odd solo album to round things up.

Track list:
White Line Circus – Rocket Ride (Emperor Machine remix)
Break Reform – Cut A Map In The Soles Of My Feet
The Bamboos feat. Ohmega Watts – Get In The Scene
Yoko Ono w. Shitake Monkey – O’ Oh
Natalie Walker – No One Else
Lost Idol – We Can Find Love
Kids In Tracksuits – Real Axe
Regal – Capt. Ahab
Ramasutra – The Curse of the Eye
!!! – Myth Takes
AmmonContact – Drum Riders
DJ Dren – Wot Da Hell
Pedro – Fear & Resilience (Cherrystones mix)
The Emperor Machine – Fear of Woman
Stephanie Dosen – Within Without You
The Dragons – Peace Garden
Brian Eno – Haslet
Friction = Fire – Dunmore East
Peter Wyngarde – Pay No Attention

By 2007 vinyl production was slowing down and a lot of this set was mixed off of CDs or digital files by the looks of the waveform on this file when I booted it up, there’s compression and crushed waveform peaks all over the place. Promos were starting to come in digital form as it was quicker and cheaper to produce CDrs with paper inserts in plastic wallets than mail out 12”s after weeks(!) away at the pressing plant. I think streaming and digital promos were maybe just starting around this time too but the music industry was still in freefall from digital downloading and any costs that could be cut would be. Dublin’s Kormac kicks off the show this week before we’re quickly into ‘The Riddle’, produced by The Sugarman and voiced by Harry Dean Stanton. This came to me via a promo CD and the group were apparently a trio of reclusive South Londoners who self-released this single (with remixes from Ashley Beedle and more) and an album which was possibly promo only. I’m not sure if the vocal is sampled from anywhere but that’s quite a cameo for a debut single if not. DJ Pandaj hails from Italy according to discos and Mirrorsystem was an offshoot of Steve Hillage and Miquette Giraudy’s System 7 project for the more ambient side as their main group became more techno-orientated. They cover Jam & Spoon’s ‘Stella’ to fine effect before The Bamboos’ try their hand at Max Segdley’s ‘Happy’. And is that Matt Berry talking about Fairlight samplers before it kicks in?

!!! (aka Chk Chk Chk)’s ‘Yadnus’ is still such a tune, love that swinging glam beat on anything. DJ Kentaro featuring Spank Rock from his debut Ninja Tune LP next and you’ve never felt smaller as a DJ than when you have to step up to play after him in front of a home crowd in Tokyo, truly humbling. Tiga’s ‘You Gonna Want Me’ takes inspiration from Altern8’s ‘Infiltrate 202’ which in turn sampled Candi Staton’s ‘I Know’ vocal (amongst other things) and this version is the Van She remix. Deekline & Wizard’s collaboration with SOTO on Ghetto Blast Ya uses the metronome tick as a percussion device and I think I must have played the radio mix of Tim Deluxe’s ‘Let The Beats Roll’ here as I remember a much longer intro on this than here. l played this to death in the clubs for a while back in the day, there’s a great dub version too if you’re not into the vocal.

The Chris Carter feat. Fine Cut Bodies track is almost speed garage and I’d forgotten that Mark Spiler tune, how crazed, not sure what time signature that’s in. Pendulum’s ‘Blood Sugar’, this came out between their first and second albums and was kind of where I checked out as the next record upped the guitar quota and left me a bit cold. Fracture and Neptune were (are) always good value and were spearheading a kind of return to Photek-era DnB in the 00’s. Can you tell the DJ Fresh mix of DJ Shadow is off vinyl? I had to turn it up on the file here as the drop from the previous track was like a cliff face – such a killer club track but that abrupt ending was always difficult to get out from. Fracture & Neptune are back to play us out with a big Steve Miller Band sample on ‘Ventura’ and there’s a random drugs spoken word collage to finish. Back for part 2 next week…

Track list:
Kormac – Mr Heidi Hi (intro)
The Sugarman – The Riddle
DJ Pandaj – The Lazy Trip Project
Mirrorsysytem – Stella (Duende mix)
Bamboos – Happy
!!! – Yadnus
DJ Kentaro – Space Jungle
Tiga – You Gonna Want Me (Van She remix)
Deekline & Wizard vs SOTO – Ghetto Blast Ya (VIP)
Tim Deluxe – Let The Beats Roll
Chris Carter feat. Fine Cut Bodies – Frogmarch
Mark Splier – Globul Bleu
Pendulum – Blood Sugar
Fracture & Neptune – A Clue
DJ Shadow – Enuff (DJ Fresh remix)
Fracture & Neptune – Ventura

I fell in love with Javi P3z’s music when I discovered his and Camping Gaz’s ‘Circus World’ 12” on Novophonic and played it to death. It’s strange mix of skanking batucada with theremin top line mixed with circus clowns and children cheering (yes, really). Totally unhinged and unlike anything else, I once found five copies in a bargain bin for £1 each and proceeded to give them to anyone who would take one. Here’s his follow up, under another of his many aliases – ‘Safari-Hari’ – an equally audacious romp through the jungle if less on the crazed side but beautifully packaged in a cardboard shopping bag as part of the Onze Sports double 7”.

Mr Melvis – ‘A Walk Through The Powerhouse’ was featured on a 2xCD compilation of “Strange and unusual music from the Exotica Mailing List” put together by my friend Otis Fodder on his Comfort Stand label. Otis and I had met online when he started the 365 Days Project in 2003, posting a weird and wonderful track or album every day via the WFMU website. This was a great resource in the early days of file-sharing on the web and the whole project is a wonderland of treasures. Otis was a resident in Montreal at the time (or was it Toronto?) and we later met up a few times when I toured over there, bonding over our love for strange music from the margins. Despite saying ‘never again’ once the year was up, he repeated the feat through 2007 and both are still archived online. http://wfmu.org/365/

Anyway, Mr Melvis is covering a favourite, Raymond Scott’s ‘Powerhouse’ before we subtly shift into a deep house masterpiece of a remix by Charles Webster that totally captivated me when I heard it. Doing away with all but a single phrase from Martina Topley-Bird’s ‘Soul Food’ Webster grooves on a cappella cooing and deep bass pads and I could listen to this all day, I wouldn’t call myself a deep house fan but this could covert me. M*A*R*Y was a Richard X alias, this track was the sole release on a split 7” single with Liquitex until 2022 when an archive album appeared called High Noise Cassette – no doubt the product of lockdown hard drive excavation like so many of us. The Emperor Machine was a no brainer for me as soon as I heard Andrew Meecham’s analogue radiophonic stylings and this was the beginning of a golden run of releases on the DC label through the 00’s. NSM I don’t remember much about but it was short for New Sector Movements, IG Culture’s loose collective of broken beat collaborators.

I don’t remember this DJ Zinc boot of ‘Milkshake’ either, no idea where I got that, dodgy offbeat mix by me there too, sloppy. Coldcut remix the Dr Who theme, this was another that came and went with little fanfare although there’s plenty of work in there transforming it into a half time dub with female vocal replacing the main melody. In fact I can’t find any info about it on Discogs so I’m wondering if it even came out? I asked Jon More and he confirmed that the Beeb shelved it, to quote the Guardian: “The best series of songs inspired by Dr Who is annoyingly locked away in a record company vault. In 2004 the BBC planned an album called Resistance Is Futile: Doctor Who Remixed, which was to feature St Etienne (who finished recording There There My Brigadier), 808 State (The Master’s theme), The Orb and Coldcut. But production delays had it jostling with the launch of the revamped TV series and it was scrapped.” I’ve spun the infamous outtake of Tom Baker in the vocal booth over the beginning which was a popular meme doing the rounds in the early days of file downloading. LCD Soundsystem’s amazing ‘Yeah’ still sounds utterly relevant and exciting and I’m thinking I must have compiled some of this mix using my old Numark CDJ as the pitch shift up and subsequent phase FX into the DJ Zinc track after bear all it’s hallmarks. Bit of Kylie over the top there before the switch and that’s quite a tempo increase, hold tight! ‘Next Tuesday’ was from Zinc’s Faster album, a decent attempt to make a well rounded dance album covering all styles rather than just club bangers.

Aaaah, Sixtoo and Damo Suzuki – what a track, what a beat, could listen to this all day, was so proud to have had a hand in bringing Rob to Ninja Tune back in the day, wasn’t for everyone but it floated my boat. This is a really random selection, we go through the heavy Krautrock-isms of Sixtoo to dark electronic rap via the Shadow Huntaz and then acoustic pop from Air. P-Love’s ‘Clausland Man Rd’ from his time on Bully Records (with my dodgy scratching over the top) into Ricci Rucker’s ‘New Dirt’, always interesting on the scratch/beat tip – rounding out a truly eclectic selection of contemporary tracks of the day.

Listening back to this (and a lot of the mixes in this archive) I’m reminded how much music soundtracks our lives and how I’m not currently soundtracking the present day by recording shows of current music and digging finds. I guess I didn’t expect to be listening back to these mixes nearly 20 years later and getting so nostalgic for the eras they evoke. Maybe when this is over I’ll start something new but it’s a big commitment and I’m not sure I could do it every week anymore. Maybe a new kind of show, I don’t know, what kind of music-related show would you tune in to?

Track list:
Digital Onze – Safari-Hari
Mr Melvis – A Walk Through The Powerhouse
Martina Topley-Bird – Soul Food (Charles Webster’s Bangin’ House Dub)
M*A*R*Y – 73 Club
The Emperor Machine – Expanding in Reproduction
NSM – Trying Times
Kelis – Milkshake (DJ Zinc remix)
Delia Derbyshire – Dr Whooligan (Coldcut remix)
LCD Soundsystem – Yeah (Stupid version)
DJ Zinc – Next Tuesday
Sixtoo feat. Damo Suzuki – Storm Clouds and Silver Linings
Shadow Huntaz – Razbar
Air – Cherry Blossom Girl
P-Love – Clausland Mtn Rd
Ricci Rucker – New Dirt

I’ve completely forgotten which show these were recorded for on 6 Music or why they needed two 16 minute mixes (if anyone remembers please drop a comment) but they’re on a disc with a private mix I did for my then wife in February of 2004. Parts of this resemble DJ sets of the day including the whole ‘Clapping Song’ routine with multiple copies on 7” that I’d switch between in quick succession. J Star who kicks things off did a series of white label reggae mash-ups at the time that were some of the best around, crazy to think people were actually pressing these bootlegs on vinyl but I suppose it’s no different to the multitude of 7” re-edits doing the rounds today. As the real Cure morphs into Kurtis Rush’s Missy Elliot/George Michael medley I thought I’d better double check if my memory was still correct as to who was behind the name. Yes, Kurtis was in fact Erol Alkan who made a trio of white label mixes around 2001/2002 and was also rumoured to be behind the Kylie/New Order blend that she premiered at the Brits that year.

Chuck Brown & The Soul Searches’ pre-Go Go classic ‘Ashley’s Roach Clip’ is immediately recognisable for the drums that Eric B & Rakim nicked for their ‘Paid In Full’ classic. I add in a Jungle Brothers acappella which really needed to be chased along with the wavering tempo. Coldcut of course remixed ‘Paid In Full’ into an even bigger classic and it’s their ‘instrumental’ of the mix under the title ‘Not Paid Enough’ that begins the second mix, with Martine Girault’s beautiful ‘Revival’ over the top which was enjoying a errrrm… revival at that time. Out of this is the Play School breakbeat monster ’Bang On A Drum’ that Coldcut sampled for the outro of their remix and then we get into some country and western hip hop comedy with Ricky V. Valentine who I’m still no wiser as to the identity of. This little skit appeared on a 12” on the C Side Trax label and Ricky was never heard of again. This Kid Named Miles’ cover of ‘Ring of Fire’ didn’t leave my DJ box for about five years I think, always a great end of nighter and Nicky Thomas’ version of ‘Soul Power’ pads out the end of the mix.

Track list:
Pts.1&2
J Star – No Diggity
The Meters – Hand Clapping Song
Shirley Ellis – The Clapping Song
Malcolm & The Humphries Singers – The Clapping Song
Ray Russell – The Clapping Song
Pia Zadora – The Clapping Song
The Cure – Close To Me
Kurtis Rush – George Gets His Freak On
Chuck Brown & The Soul Searchers – Ashley’s Roach Clip
The Jungle Brothers – Jimbrowski (acappella)
Coldcut – Not Paid Enough
Martine Girault – Revival
Play School – Bang On A Drum
Ricki V. Valentine – Ghetto Classics
This Kid Named Miles – Ring Of Fire
Nicky Thomas – Soul Power

Tony Morley was the guest this week – who had then just launched his Leaf label – still going strong all these years later and releasing great music too. We met through Chantal aka Mira Calix (RIP) who interned at 4AD where he was working at the time and DJ’d with him at Robin ‘Scanner’ Rimbaud’s Electronic Lounge at the ICA. We invited Tony to play at both Telepathic Fish and onto Solid Steel and later he and I would go on a possible midlife crisis pilgrimage to Dusseldorf together to see the old men of techno perform their Man Machine and Computer World albums but that’s another story. This mix is a weird one, the selection is all over the place and the mixing too, maybe I was too busy chatting and not concentrating much, consider this all about the selection rather than any mix skills.

Starting as I ended a few weeks back with Jimi Tenor’s ‘Cafe Europe (live)’ (which Jon refers to as easy listening funk) there’s an oddity from a Flora Purim promo that was doing the rounds with remixes of her back catalogue – the best of which was the Guy Called Gerald one which is horribly out of tune with Jimi for a few bars at least. This clatters into a Doctor Rockit track from his Ready To Rockit EP on Clear, ‘Cameras & Rocks’, where this Matthew Herbert alias took his usual modus operandi of making tracks solely from sounds listed in the titles. After this is some unknown breakbeat track, possibly from the American New Breed label but I can’t place it and neither can Spotify but the Jaziacs & Snowboy tune after I had not heard in years and bought back many good memories. Hunt this 12” down (starting at 99p on Discogs) it’s a great snapshot of the acid jazz/trip hop crossover happening at the time which a huge dose of old school scratching over ‘Beat Street Strut’ on this track.

PC used to do a great impression of the Doctor Rockit track next, the opener of the aforementioned Clear EP but I’m not sure what the big electronic interference is that suddenly appears, possibly a mixing desk mistake! Then the DnB is back with Luger, from guest Tony Morley’s Leaf label, this was the third release I believe. An odd trio of Keith LeBlanc tracks follow from his Global 2000 album under the name Spike (he’d dropped the ‘DJ’) which was CD only, unusual for me to play three in a row from the same artist. Jimi Tenor is back and then Bjork thunders in after what was most likely an advert break there – tune! Some un-ID’d DnB after – maybe more Droppin Science? and then another tune that I’d not heard in years. Gliderstate’s ‘Landscapes’ – what a beautiful piece of music – airy, melodic DnB with hints of jazz that still retains some weight via those pushing hi hats driving it along. More Clear business with the best title from the Greg Fleckner Quartet’s ‘A Gentle Intro To The GFQ’ 12” in ‘Oi, That’s My Bird’ but definitely not a good mix with Gliderstate, ouch. I’m not sure I even tried to mix Up, Bustle & Out’s ‘Ninja Principality’ out of this but it still sounds tough, Clandestine Ein could program them beats.

Track list:
Jimi Tenor – Cafe Europa (live)
Flora Purim – What You See (Ghost of Flora’s Dream remix by A Guy Called Gerald)
Doctor Rockit – Cameras & Rocks
Unknown – Unknown
Jaziacs & Snowboy – Give It Up Me
Doctor Rockit – Hello
Luger – Pass Agent (Leaf)
Spike – Change
Spike – Story Of Violence
Spike – The Mark
Jimi Tenor – Europa (Main Theme)
Bjork – Army Of Me
Unknown – unknown
Gliderstate – Landscapes
Greg Fleckner Quartet – Oi, That’s My Bird
Up, Bustle & Out – Ninja’s Principality