The second of the free interviews with Brian Eno about his career as part of the Sonos Radio station, The Lighthouse. I could listen to him all day and his station as part of Sonos has an ever expanding collection of unreleased music from his archive. You can access it by subscribing here
Music
I was amazed to see the originals of Dave Little‘s covers for S’Express‘ Original Soundtrack album and Jibraro ‘Electra’ 12″ at the screening of the 1988 documentary, Club Culture tonight at Arboretum. There was a small show of his work including Renegade Soundwave, Spectrum, Junior Boys Own and his Acid screen print. If you look closely at the Jibaro sleeve you can see the stuck on lettering peeling away. You can buy some of these as prints from Dave’s site.
Appearing on the latest episode of Stephen Coates‘ The Bureau of Lost Culture are Coldcut‘s Jonathan More and myself, picking several personal favourite examples from the history of cut and paste and talking about our experiences with working with samples in our music.
I’ve no idea where this came from, it was on a DAT tape with no info, it’s definitely me playing but I’ve no idea the date aside from these tracks are all from around 1996. It’s trip hop all the way though with UNKLE’s mix of Tortoise opening and on into the Sonic Assault mix of Attica Blues’ ‘Tender’. Danny Breaks’ ‘Science Fu’ Pt.2 is followed by something I just cannot remember and Spotify cannot identify – anyone got any ideas? I’m think it’s maybe European?
UPDATE: Edward ZentaurusMan – one of Solid Steel’s biggest fans – has set me straight, it was by Si Begg and the exact date was 29/12/1996 – thanks Edward!
Brighton graffiti artist Req makes his debut on wax for the Skint label at the end and it’s all done in under 30 minutes. The presence of random spoken word samples makes me think this was recorded up at Ahead of our Time studios in Clink St rather than KISS FM and it’s fairly basic on the mixing side of things. I’m wondering if it was even broadcast, it’s unusual to have no date on something.
Fun fact: I painted and sealed the walls of the studio above once it was built (we never got round to properly painting it after), it stood inside the main office of Ninja Tune in London Bridge, sound proofed and the Journeys By DJ mix, A Recipe For Disaster and Let Us Play were largely recorded there among others.
Tracklist:
Tortoise – Djed (Bruise Blood Mix)
Attica Blues – Tender (Sonic Assault Mix)
Danny Breaks – Science Fu (Pt.2)
Si Begg – Nothing Is True Zen Say
Req – 8 Models In A Sauna
The repress of The New Obsolescents‘ LP on Castles In Space is finally ready and the pre-order goes live on Friday 22nd October at 8am UK time on the Castles In Space Bandcamp. Some will also be available in selected record shops and a few left over for the Levitation festival in Whitby on Nov 5th/6th.
The album is presented in a revised second edition sleeve. After the first run of LPs with the Heliophore foil covers (see below) sold out in 25 minutes I started looking for other options for a repress that would equal the first as the stocks of foil were now depleted.
I chanced upon a prism effect card which gives the illusion of depth and was a new addition to a card-maker’s stock. Inverting the original design and printing white onto black, I gave them to Jonas Ranson at paperHAUS who (again) expertly screen printed the covers – front and back this time – before they went off for assembly. 
As with the cover, we decided on a silver and white hybrid moon surface effect for the vinyl, hopefully making the repress just as covetable as the first.
The prism card is very difficult to photograph as it gives a 3D effect and catches whatever light is nearby, colouring the card. Here’s a quick clip of it to illustrate, the white print appears to float on it.
Here are the original and the repress sleeves side by side
Also available will be these enamel badges with screen printed backing cards by Kvist using offcuts from the original foil sleeves.
Finished copies of the Steven Rutter 12” I designed for De:tuned arrived yesterday and I couldn’t be happier with the final result.
This took a while, not least because of the worldwide delays with vinyl production, but also because we had to change details of the design after an initial die cut cover option proved unworkable. No matter because the final result is one of my favourite designs in recent years. Available in black or copper/brown vinyl.
And that’s not to forget that the music it houses is absolutely beautiful, a career high for Steven. Available now from all good record shops and De:tuned just launched the full label on Bandcamp last week too.
I felt like a bit of hip hop and found this hour where I was playing catch up with a load of mid 2005 releases, the quality is outstanding with a leaning towards West Coast artists in particular, the underground was really firing 15 years ago. Not too much to say about this really except that it contains a couple of Soundsci demo mixes that changed a little by the time they were released.
Tracklist:
Pangea / My Private Utopia – Solid Steel intro
Cage feat. Jello Biafra – Grand ‘ol Party Crash
Stateless – Exit
Blackalicious – Rhythm Sticks (remix)
SoundSci – The Remedy (demo mix)
Porn Theatre Ushers – She’s Busted
Madvillain – Rhinestone Cowboy (Fourtet remix)
Quasimoto – Bully’s Hit
Tom Caruana feat. Arch Co – It’s Arch
Hot Karl feat. MC Serch – Let’s Talk
Madvillain – Strange Ways (Koushik remix)
Madvillain – interlude
Koushik – Too Many Ways
Living Legends – Good Fun
Nextmen feat. Dynamite MC – Spin It Round
Edan – Fumbling Over Words That Rhyme
Natural Self feat. Alice Russell – I Don’t Need This Trouble
Quasimoto – Rappcats 3
Edan feat. Percce P – Torture Chamber (Cut Chemist remix)
SoundSci – The Illness (demo mix)
APSCI feat. Mr Lif – See That?
Ultramagnetic MCs – Poppa Large (Devil McDoom remix)
Ch3vy – Hard Massage
Not only has the Belgian label, De:tuned, announced another new Humanoid release, this one is remixed by Autechre, Luke Vibert and Mike Dred! The label, who I’ve been designing sleeves for alongside The Designers Republic for the last five years, has also set up shop on Bandcamp – look at that discography.
I found the time to visit the Third Man London shop today and was completely taken with the whole concept and design. Not only is it a record shop but also houses a small basement for live gigs, a book dispenser, a Record-o-gram booth for recording records and masses of merchandise from clothes, badges, turntables, audio gear and anything you can slap a Third Man logo on. I’d recommend a visit just to see what a lovely piece of interior design it is, part shop, part venue, part curio store and museum of Third Man artefacts. Just a very bold statement of intent.
It’s on Marshall St near Carnaby St in Soho, you can’t miss it.
A new ambient compilation is released on Ninja Tune side label, Ahead Of Our Time in November, curated and mixed by Coldcut and Mixmaster Morris in association with Calm, the mental health app designed to help you manage stress, sleep better and live a happier, healthier life. Check the track list below for a seriously impressive line up.
You can listen to a mix of 10 tracks if you use the Calm app here. The comp will be available on 2xLP and 2xCD with nearly 30 tracks on the CD edition. Listen to two previews and order here
Recorded to DAT at home (hence the title) and missing the first 10 minutes or so due to an Autechre live track and Boards of Canada’s ‘Aquarius’ Peel session being taped over them. This mix is rough and ready with some brutal half time Bug/Ice beats giving way to jump up D’n’B including UK remixes of The Beastie Boys and Missy Elliot.
Part 2 slows the pace a little and moves into sample territory with the Weather Report-sampling Noise/Paradox ‘Last Night on Earth’ and Jadell’s old school nod, ’Sureshot’ (apologies for the dust on the needle). An unknown track follows that gives way to the techno jazz of Bedouin Ascent’s remix of Move D, such a complex bit of programming. I’m sure I’ve got a tape of unreleased BA music from way back somewhere.
I’ve no idea why Knights of the Turntable is in here, an early 80’s electro B side with all this modern stuff? I must have just got a copy second hand and the tempo was right. CSM’s ‘The Way’ was on Clear offshoot, Reel and Norken’s remix does that rare thing of evoking what I call ‘night time techno’, early hours of the morning headphones music like Elektroids or B12. Jega comes along and ruins that particular mood with his distorted beats and we finish with excerpts from Marshall McLuhan’s ‘The Medium Is The Massage’ which has been laced throughout the mix. You can detect traces of samples that appeared in the following year’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ album in here too in some of the vocal snippets.
For the Solid Steel scholars, the missing tracks from the start of part 1 were apparently:
DJ VADIM – AURAL PROSTITUTION (SWOPE MIX)
STEVE GREY – STEVE GREY
Track list:
Part 1
DJ VADIM – LORD FORGIVE ME (BUG DOOMSDAY LINE MIX)
ICE – X-1(UNDERDOG MIX)
BEASTIE BOYS – INTERGALACTIC (P.O.TECH/TMS REMIX)
MISSY ELLIOT – HIT ‘EM WITH THE HEE (GANJA KRU REMIX)
Part 2
NOISE/PARADOX – LAST NIGHT ON EARTH
JADELL – THE SURE SHOT
Unknown – unknown
MOVE D – HURT ME (BEDOUIN ASCENT MIX)
KNIGHTS OF THE TURNTABLE – FRESH DUB
CSM – THE WAY (NORKEN MIX)
JEGA – CARBON 60
An email from the mysterious ‘Rolito’ arrived one day in 2003 with an offer of being one of 6 designers to customise a new line of toys he was making. Each toy had a tiny body and a large, dome-shaped head inside of which was another, smaller, stash box. I was intrigued as I’ve been a fan of the vinyl toy ‘thing’ since Michael Lau came out with his Crazy Children around 2000 and the thought of having my own one was something that appealed greatly. The other thing that appealed was that Rolito had a crazy website based around a load of characters he had created that inhabited Rolitoland. There was little or no explanation about these creatures but the attention to detail and graphic ideas were more than enough to hook me in.
The brief was open and I decided to adapt my Ninja logo around the toy using various different existing graphics and logos to make a ‘RolitoTune Ninjaboy’. The process for getting the graphics onto the toy were slightly limited so I wasn’t able to do some of the things I wanted to. I suggested we include a 3″ CD in the package with a selection of Ninja music to add to the promotional aspect of the toy so that people who didn’t know where it came from would be introduced to the label via the disc. One of the beauties of the Rolito packaging is that it dismantles without having to tear, cut or unstick anything, this meant that the empty vacuum packing would ultimately become the ‘sleeve’ that would house the CD.
There were only 450 made, Ninja got around 150 I think and sold the lot within a weekend over the net, some of which have since appeared on eBay for up to £99. I also contributed a short soundtrack to an animation on his website that showed the shipment getting stuck at the French customs – a scenario that actually happened.
Saturday’s Groovy Record Fayre, organised by Jonny Trunk (Trunk Records) and Ian Shirley (Record Collector) was an absolute blast. Further cohort Pete Williams and I had a table selling vinyl, CDs, ephemera, comics, books and more and it was more than worth our while. Loads of people stopped by to say hello and browse and later on, after the stalls had been cleared, there was a pub quiz on music. After this, Martin Green and Jarvis Cocker stepped up to DJ and some of the tables were cleared for a full on party. It was the first time we’d danced in public for 18 months and it felt fantastic, tune of the night was The Inhuman League with ‘You Were Working As A Waitress In A Cocktail Bar’ – look it up if you don’t know it. Thanks to everyone who came along, said hello and bought something, I hope they do it again next year.
Ian Shirley (Record Collector / Om Swagger)
Doug Shipton (Finders Keepers)
Mark Pawson (Pawson Novelties)
Lizzy
Jonny Cuba (Soundsci / Other Mirror) and Ollie Teeba (The Herbaliser / Soundsci)
Martin and James (The Karminsky Experience Inc.)
Julian House (Intro / Ghost Box / The Focus Group)
L-R James (Karminski Experience Inc.), Edwin Pouncey (Savage Pencil), Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth / Ecstatic Peace)
Andrew (Let It Gibbon)
Gavin (Spun Out Of Control), Martin Green (Smashing / Duovision), Jonny Cuba (Soundci / Other Mirror)
The ubitquitous Tony
Shane Quentin (Garden of Earthly Delights), Edwin & Jill, Alan Gubby (Buried Treasure Records / Revbjelde)
Martin Green and Mark Moore (S’Express)
Lawrence (Felt / Denim) and Trevor Jackson (Playgroup / The Underdog / Bite It!)
Adam Seth-Ward (Kesselrunners) and Robin The Fog (Howlround / The New Obsolescents)
Hannah Brown and Jonny Trunk
Martin Green and Jarvis Cocker
Paul Putner and Jonny Trunk
Delayed Pt. 2 to Mixcloud 72 because of the Now, Listen anniversary the past 2 weeks
Recorded over the Xmas break of ’98/99 (where PC and I went to LA to play at a disastrous New Year party which ended in multiple hospitalisations from a bad drugs batch and police shut down). This sounds like a live set recorded at home, possibly on three decks and is full of contemporary electronica, jazz, library and that end of the millennium weirdness where there wasn’t any dominant scene happening.
The King Biscuit Time track that kicks this off is a real anomaly for me, I never founds anything else by them that did it for me but this absolutely rocks. Absolutely joyous with that filthy break and weird bass line. Paddington Breaks were from the same stable as Animals On Wheels, lazily bundled in under the name ‘drill n bass’ on account of them sometimes aping Squarepusher‘s completely style of programming. As you can hear, that was far from the truth with this track, sounding more like vintage Black Dog that anything else.
Stereolab were generally turning anything they touched to gold around this time and their Pastels remix is no exception despite dodgy ‘scratched’ flute sound. John Callaghan has been making music for 30 years and released a couple of 7″s on Warp at the end of the decade. The spooky ‘I’m not comfortable in my own mind’ wasn’t something you’d associate with the label at the time but not a million miles away from Broadcast in tone. More Warp with another BoC Peel Session track before something from Bundy K Brown‘s short-lived Pullman project, an acoustic instrumental outfit with only two albums to their discography.
Bundy was always moving on to different projects from Tortoise, Grey Market Goods or Pullman, his Directions debut EP, Echoes, has just been reissued after 25 years with extra material on Temporary Residence. Air (the German alias of Pete Namlook version – their are over 30 bands called Air on Discogs) appear again with another track from their Fax debut. Major Force West had an album collected on Mo Wax of various tracks from ’97-99, some rumoured to originally be slated for the UNKLE LP before James Lavelle changed direction and producers. To me it’s a brilliant record, full of mind-expanding trip hop in the very best psychedelic sense. Snatches of the moon landing, shortwave recordings, parts of How To Speak Hip and all manner of analogue electronics over a steady breakbeat goes down very nicely.
We finish where we started in part one of this show with the Karminsky‘s and a track from their second single, ‘The Hip Sheik EP’, insultingly files under Electronic: Acid Jazz on Discogs, far from it. Peppered throughout this show and the previous one were snatches of The Tape Beatles from their ‘A Subtle Buoyancy Of Pulse’ debut (or possibly ‘Music With Sound’, I forget). Either releases are incredible cut up/collage albums in the style of Negativland, People Like Us or The Books and The Orb have pillaged the latter for years.
King Biscuit Time – Niggling Discrepancy
Paddington Breaks – Blimsearch
The Pastels – One Wild Moment (Stereolab mix)
John Callaghan – Smearhead
Boards of Canada – Olsen
Pullman – Tall Grass
Air – 1st Impression
Major Force West – Circling Round
The Karminsky Experience – Suspense
The Tape Beatles – Outro
I’ve compiled some of my favourite Command sleeves for a 4th volume of Forgotten Graphics – 24 pgs, buy here
Or I will have copies with me at Jonny Trunk‘s Groovy Record Fair this Saturday
A bonus mini CD included with pre-orders of the Black Sands Remixed CD – the album compressed down to a mini mix by Solid Steel producer, DK.
The incredible Cut Chemist 2.5 minute workout of Blackalicious’ ‘Alphabet Aerobics’ starts us off into the second section of the Director’s Cut, upping the tempo considerably into Four Tet’s epic ‘Glasshead’. Camping Gaz and Digi Random’s crazed theremin and ska ‘Circus World’ didn’t make the cut and neither did the UK garage beats of Sunship’s ‘Cheque One, Two’ (it’s a nice idea but a bit out of tune). The next section is so sublime and stayed in for exactly that reason, Herbie Hancock’s ‘Nobu’ out of ‘Glasshead’ and then into Link’s ‘Arcadian’ is, as Ninja’s licensing manager at the time, Dean Smith, used to say, ‘a moment’. Talking of which, this half of the mix was taken from the radio broadcast so DK, Dean and I are present occasionally to chat and track back over things. PC performed some judicious edits of ’Nobu’ for the final mix as it’s a very long track but the full thing appears here.
It was such a shame we couldn’t license Lorez Alexandra’s ‘Baltimore Oriole’ as the mix out of Link with the pitched down ending melody over it and then into Art of Noise’s ‘Moments In Love’ is just delicious. Another, err, moment occurs out of the AON and into Vangelis’ ‘Let It Happen’, originally slated to be the closer but replaced by Faze-O’s ‘Riding High’ on the final CD. The final section here was a proposed end selection I made which was vetoed for the mix coupling Coldcut’s ‘Autumn Leaves’ acappella with Air’s ‘Modular Mix’ and a lot of delay action. Following this is 10cc’s classic, ‘I’m Not In Love’ beautifully sliding into ‘Moments In Love’, the former I’m convinced of which was some sort of inspiration for the latter. The chord change as they mix together is another moment for me but the others weren’t having it, 10cc were just too uncool. The telephone message that ends the mix was left for me by Dom Smith, another Ninja Tune office employee (and now manager of Flying Lotus, Thundercat and the Cinematic Orchestra), in response to my answerphone containing a snatch of Missy Elliot’s ‘Beep Me 911’ at the time.
Part 2
Blackalicious – Alphabet Aerobics
Four Tet – Glasshead
Camping Gaz & Digi Random – Circus World
Sunship – Cheque One, Two
Herbie Hancock – Nobu
Link – Arcadian
Lorez Alexandra – Baltimore Oriole
Art of Noise – Moments in Love
Boards of Canada – The Colour of the Fire
Vangelis – Let it Happen
Air – Modular Mix
Coldcut – Autumn Leaves (acappella)
10cc – I’m Not in Love
Art of Noise – Moments in Love
A sampler from Sixtoo collaborator, Canadian MC Buck 65, for his album, ‘Talkin’ Honky Blues’ from 2003. I can’t even find this on Discogs, this is the thing with mini CDs, they’re so tiny they’re hard to find, even digitally.
I saw The Light Surgeons last night (still amazing) and had been sent a link to a documentary about Newcastle raves when I got home that included this screen shot. It’s called ‘The Kick, The Snare, The Hat & A Clap’
The Quadraphon Mk II – a lot of last week was spent working on this, making container pods that hold three extra tone arms, attached to a modular sliding rail that can be fitted over any DJ turntable.
Each tone arm can be moved and locked into position to recalibrate where the arm sits in the groove and the whole thing comes apart for portability.
It’s not perfect but better than the Mark I which had free-standing tone arms. Still got to perfect the sliding action to make it smoother and retool one of the pods but it all works. If you want to hear what comes out of such a contraption then check out the releases on my Infinite Illectrik label on Bandcamp.
Its debut should be at the Castles In Space Levitation show in Whitby, Nov 6th as part of The New Obsolescents’ first proper live show, the time and details of which are below. There are two nights and tickets can be bought here
