The monthly round up: Mostly new music here, the centre image is the new Gaslamp Killer LP, to it’s left is the new Paul Cousins album ‘Oxide Manifesto’ on Castles In Space and below it, Benedict Drew‘s new one on Thanet Tape Centre, ‘Tone Works (for film and video)’. Dave Lombardo‘s ‘Rites of Percussion’ is a killer drum album from the Slayer/Fantomas legend that actually came out over a year ago but I only just discovered and it’s always nice to see a new Space Oddities collection, this time focussing on Bernard Fevre aka Black Devil Disco Club. Not pictured here (because they’re not on Bandcamp) but well worth tracking down are Beautify Junkyards‘ ‘Nova’ on Ghost Box and LL Cool J‘s amazing return on ‘The Force’, produced by Q-Tip. Also check out Skylab International‘s cover of Hot Chocolate‘s ‘Emma’ from the list below, it’s a treat. It’s also Bandcamp Friday at the end of this week, so fill your baskets in readiness…
My latest ROVR radio show featuring some of these was aired on Friday Sept 27th and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID
Records
Here’s the new Robert Leiner album I designed for De:tuned which also happens to be their 50th release!
Up for pre-order now and released on Nov 8th on black or bottle green vinyl.
Here’s an audio preview of the whole album
I wrote a huge piece for Dust & Grooves about joining Alex Paterson of the Orb to go through a couple of old DJ boxes he used to use in live sets. This took place two years ago to the day it’s been published and we’ve just finished it off as it didn’t make the forthcoming book in time for publication, mainly due to space. But on the web you can have all the space you want and space is most definitely the place for this feature. If you ever wanted to know where that sample was from or what record was used where then this feature goes some way to pulling back the curtain.
D&G creator and photographer, Eilon Paz beautifully captured the results of the momentous occasion which was situated first at the Book & Record Bar in West Norwood and later at Alex’s home nearby. I’m proud of all my work with Dust & Grooves (and there’s a fair bit more to come) but this was quite the fanboy’s dream as I’d probably first seen the Orb close to thirty years before. You can read the full piece here. The huge 650 page Dust & Grooves 2 arrives in a month’s time and can be ordered here along with its sister publication, Portables, all about, you guessed it – portable turntables. Enjoy…
WIth Dust and Grooves ramping up the pressure over the next 5 weeks when Vol.2 and the Portables books are released, today sees the launch of their online newsletter You Dig? A guest-curated monthly round up of all things vinyl associated with the people connected with the book (and believe me, there are a LOT in the new volume) It sports a cover collage by Morgan Jesse Lappin of Brooklyn Collage Collective (spot my cameo) and curation by Rich Headland of Record Shop Stories fame. You can read the first issue and subscribe here and pre-order both new books plus a refreshed vol.1 if you missed it a decade ago here.
Continuing the D&G love, I was the subject of their From Me To You feature recently where they looked by over my original interview on the site a decade ago and cherry-picked some vinyl highlights. You can read it here, with cover collage again from Morgan Jesse Lappin and if you want the full deep dive interview (probably the best one done yet) including an exclusive influences mix then you can read that here.
The second show this month with a load of new music sprinkled with some older selections. Friday 30th Aug, 2pm wherever the you are in the world (the station is time-stamped by region).
Listen back at https://www.rovr.live/show/3064
Download the app to get archive access. APPLE or ANDROID
Show #6 Aug 2024 2
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #6
Beastie Boys – Jimmy James (Bsidewinsagain remix)
Jem Stone – Everyone’s Hugging The Horse
Larry Manteca – Bank´s Layout Reconnaissance
Myrth – Myrthiolate (edit)
Bob Dorough – Little TwelveToes (AI instrumental)
Jem Stone – Island Of The Snake People
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #46
The New Library Sound – Diving in Deep Sea pt. 1
Prefuse 73 – Raja
Markey Funk – Chronoscope
Pete Sasqwax Beat Cult – Initiation Ritual Part 11
Pete Sasqwax Beat Cult – Initiation Ritual Part 18
Handyman – The Clapping Song (DJ Food Re-Edit)
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #16
Ruby My Dear – PnT2
Sculpture – Max Ax
akufen – U
Sculpture – Cross Processor
Fluctuosa – Cobwebby
Pete Sasqwax Beat Cult – Initiation Ritual Part 04
Santaka – Burning Head
DJ Food – Electrik Collage #26
Broadcast – I Want To Be Fine
The New Library Sound – Seagrass
Group Modular – Lonely Pylon
The New Library Sound – Underwater Lounge
The South Coast Synth Ensemble – Electronic Counterpoint III
Felbm – Cycli Infini (excerpt)
Jo Johnson – It just is the love it feels
Sean Ono Lennon – Asterisms
It’s that time of year again, my annual mix debuts tonight on the 45 Live radio show, hosted as ever by the divine Greg Belson on Dublab. You know the drill, all 45s, no other sizes but 7″ vinyl, I’ve dug deep as ever for this, some of these tracks were only bought a week before I made the mix. I’m mining the vintage dance pool once again from the heyday of the late 80s and early 90s and this is probably my most housey entry ever, drawing heavily on the Champion label (Raze get three entries and no, one of them isn’t ‘Jack The Groove’) and beyond. It’s also the most tracks I’ve fitted into an hour for the show, 32 in total, trying to speed up my mixes to make it interesting. I really had fun bashing through this and plenty of the tracks still stand up. I decided to bookend the mix with two spoken samples from the same flexi disc, we start with love and end with sex – enjoy. As usual Greg bookends the show with his own unique selections – you can tune in live at 4am GMT (Aug 17th UK time) as the show goes out 8pm-10pm PST on the west coast tonight. https://www.dublab.com/shows/45-live-radio-show
Track listing – Early House / Hip House mix ’86-91 – Aug 2024
Dee-Lite – What Is Love? (Holographic Goatee Mix) 1990
E-Zee Posse – Breathing Is E-Zee (Instrumental) 1991
Turntable Orchestra – Gonna Miss Me (Vocal) 1988
Pulse – Shut Up Already (Fierce Mix) 1987
Frankie Knuckles – Your Love 1989
Wally Jump Junior & The Criminal Element – Cut Me Loose 1986
D.L. Kool – Get On Up 1989
Criminal Element Orchestra – Put The Needle On The Record 1987
Emilio – Do It Again Emilio 1988
D.J. Lelewel – Amgic Atto II (The Deep Edit) 1989
Tingo Tango – It Is Jazz 1990
The Funky Worm – Hustle! (To The Music) 1988
Plus+One feat. Siren – It’s Happenin’ 1990
Frank K. feat. Wiston Office – Everybody Lets Somebody Love 1991
Raze – Let The Music Move U 1987
Sterling Void – Set Me Free (Music Mix) 1988
Liquid Oxygen – The Planet Dance (Move Ya Body) 1990
Musto & Bones – All I Want Is To Get Away (Bones Beats) 1990
Raze – Bass Power (Power Bass remix) 1991
Bootleggers – Hot Mix 3 1988
Jazzi P – Feel The Rhythm 1990
The Beatmasters – Warm Love (The Field Hippy Mix) 1989
Toni Scott – That’s How I’m Living 1989
101 – Just As Long As I Got You (House Mix) 1989
Mr Lee – I Can’t Forget 1987
Raze feat. Lady J – All 4 Love (Break 4 Love 1990)
Doo Lally ‘D’ – Floorshaker (Dynamite edit) 1991
True Faith w. Final Cut – You Can’t Deny the Bass (Dub) 1989
Hi Tek 3 feat Shamrock – Come On and Dance (Radio Mix)1990
Reese & Santonio – Truth of Self Evidence 1988
Frankie Knuckles – Baby Wants To Ride 1989
Lee Lewis – French Kiss (The Remix) 1989
The August recommends list is out: here’s nine records that have been floating my boat recently, quite a few hip hop bits this month from The Allergies feat. Ohmega Watts, DJ Krash Slaughter feat. Phil Most Chill, Kid Acne and Bsidewinsagain’s cut ups. Markey Funk and Jem Stone bring the downtempo funk beats and Sculpture’s new LP and Earth Leakage Trip’s reissued debut bring the electronic weirdness. The new physical issue of Moonbuilding mag is also with us, containing an exclusive unreleased Polypors album of ambient bliss. For more ambient bliss, not pictured is the Floating World Pictures meets Ocean Moon album – get on that this summer for sure.
My new ROVR radio show featuring some of these was aired yesterday, Friday Aug 2nd and should be available to listen back to now via the ROVR live app APPLE or ANDROID
Just announced by Castles In Space – Jo Johnson – Let Go Your Fear – a beautiful album of mesmerising minimalist modular in an equally striking sleeve. When paired with the vinyl it just ticks all the boxes for me. I know some people have a problem with coloured/splatter/whatever vinyl but when the disc fits the artwork it creates a unison unlike any other, something we always try to do with the releases I work on for De:tuned, especially as the process is always random for each disc.
Jo was part of 90s band Huggy Bear and has been ploughing the electronic minimalism furrow for the last decade. During the long, 20 minute final track ‘Unfolding and folding’ there are points where the music seems to stumble, different tangents are tried in real time and the flow is temporarily lost. This is something you rarely hear on studio albums, these ‘mistakes’ would be edited out but Jo states that she wanted to ‘drop the perfection’ and left them in. It’s released August 9th and there’s loads of music to discover on her Bandcamp page if you enjoy this.
Another great example is the recently released Nick Taylor-designed Lone Bison 12″.
The in store mix that Hannah Brown and I did last Saturday at Upside Down Records in Deptford is now up on their new Mixcloud – give them a follow.
Two sets from me, one from Hannah (her first slamming set didn’t record sadly) – all fully trackmarked.
There’s still a crate of my records for sale at the shop, with more joining them soon… Pay them a visit, one stop from London Bridge on the overground.
Track list:
Strictly Kev mix 1
David Essex – Rock On
Jack Wilkins – Red Tribe
Santaka – No Rivers Here
Spacetime Continuum – Flurescense
Special Request – That Wisnae A Microdose / Melon Farmer / Epsilon
Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia – Obsidian (Organically Decomposed)
John Heckle – The 4th Dimension
Spiral Deluxe – The Cosmos
Caustic Window – Cordialatron
Murcof – Maiz
Akufen – Late Night Munchies
Luke Vibert – Everybody
Radio Slave – Dedication
Lalo Schifrin – Quiet Village
DJ Format & The Simonsound – Holy Thursday
Hannah Brown
Lonnie Liston-Smith – Expansions
Another Taste – Time Is On Our Side
Nu Genea – Disco Sole
Mildlife – Magnificent Moon
Phantom Handclap Band – Judge Not (Ray Mang remix)
Vivian Vee – Alright
Pleasure Pool – Ask Your Body
The Units – High Pressure Days (Todd Terje remix)
Talking Heads – Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)
Brother Resistance – Dancin’ Shoes Rapso
Surprise Chef – Crayfish Caper (Nuyorican Broken mix)
Strictly Kev mix 2
Martina Topley-Bird – Soul Food (Charles Webster’s Bangin’ House Dub)
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Beat Foundation Liquid Lustre mix)
Tin Man – Flip
Dream 2 Science – My Love Turns To Liquid (Padappella)
Four Tet – Peace For Earth
Sam Clarence – Sextant Daktari
Unknown – Beam Me Up (Creative Use)
Bon Voyage – Ils Disent Que L’orient Est Rouge
Chicago Housing Committee – Six Million Dollar Acid
Rockers Revenge – Rockin’ On Sunshine
D Train – You’re The One For Me (Dub)
Renegade Soundwave – The Phantom
Marshall Jefferson present Truth – Open Our Eyes
Baby Ford – Fordtrax
Cabaret Voltaire – Easy Life
Mr Lee – I Can’t Forget
S’Express – Mantra System
Frank K (feat. Wiston Office) – Everybody Lets Somebody Love
Sueno Latino – Sueno Latino
You can now contact Wow And Flutter and order one of the remaining unique New Obsolescents albums via the web rather than going into the shop in person.
Contact them if you’re interested in a copy, wherever you are in the world and they can calculate postage and payment, link above or email at the bottom of the image.
More photos found on an old disc; from that time I played at the Supersonic festival in Birmingham alongside The Bug, Coil, LCD Soundsystem, Kid Acne, Req, V/Vm and more. Above, a young Kid Acne, below, Edna soundchecking with Req-1 and Remark (I think?). Req live-painting 12″ sleeves outside and Lucy McLauchlan‘s Beat 13 plane installation. Lastly, The Green Man sculpture by Tawney Gray, just outside the main square where the festival was held.
This year’s Supersonic, now 21 years old, happens at the end of August over 3 days
After being interviewed for the Dust & Grooves site over a decade ago and interviewing Kieran Hebden for the first book I have been heavily involved in the follow up – Dust & Grooves 2 with creator/photographer Eilon Paz. Accompanying him on many trips around the UK to interview noted collectors like Andy Votel, DJ Format, Alex Paterson, Zoe Baxter, Trevor Jackoson and Tom Ravenscroft was a treat and I also conducted a transatlantic interview with old friend Eric San aka Kid Koala. The full book contains way more and clocks in at 650 pages, to be released this October alongside a reprint of the first D&G volume with a new cover and also available in a 2 in 1 slipcased edition.
Not only that but Paz also shot a second book in parallel; Portables, a visual history of over 200 portable turntables from around the world – the guy is a machine. Also available this October, you can find out more about all these and sign up to be notified once they are up for pre-order over at the Dust & Grooves site. There’s more in the pipeline to come too so sign up to stay in the loop.
This one has been on the cards for a while, an extended Saturday afternoon in store at Upside Down Records alongside my partner in crime Hannah Brown. We’ll both be spinning randomly all afternoon while you browse the racks at South East London’s finest new used record emporium – Upside Down – brainchild of ex-Rat Records manager Philippe Giron as I’m sure you will know if you read this blog regularly.
I spoke to Rich Headland from Record Shop Stories about design, digging and a few favourite spots both in London and elsewhere.
Give his Substack a follow to view profiles of record shops around the UK and occasional interviews, I’ve already visited several shops after seeing his detailed profiles.
Sculpture – Max Ax (Official Audio) from Sculpture on Vimeo.
Dan and Reuben from Sculpture have announced a new album for release on August 2nd. The 11 track LP appears on 2 x 10″ zoetrope discs (below) and digital via Psyché Tropes and LTR Records.
You can listen to the track ‘Max Ax’ which gives the album its title above and order direct from the labels soon.
As it says above – Wow and Flutter in Hastings will have the 20 unique LPs for sale that we displayed during our live instore last month. As you can see in the video at the top, each one has a hand-assembled, screenprinted sleeve on a different type of holographic card in a variety of printings (black/white ink and postive/negative image inversions). These were all test ideas for the second print run of the LP and were passed over in favour of the prism effect card we eventually used.
Castles in Space had 20 extra sleeveless copies of the LP left over from the second batch (silver and white swirl vinyl) and so we married them up for this unique final run. Wow and Flutter are the only people selling these anywhere in the world, they will be a highly affordable £25 each and it’s first come, first served plus they’ll let you pick your favourite sleeve from the bunch – a Castle’s in Space completist’s nightmare but there you go.
Here’s a quick blast of a bit of our instore performance which will possibly wind up on the next album in some form or other. Video by Tim Scullion from W&F – also if you’ve not heard the podcast Tim does with Paul Field under the name We Buy Records then check that out too.
Here’s this month’s recommends – Bandcamp Friday is on May 3rd so fill your cart ready
A couple of Sundays ago The New Obsolescents played live at the excellent Wow And Flutter record shop in Hastings. Chris Weaver, Robin The Fog and myself, improvised live for several hours in-store as people watched, listened and shopped. As you will see in the video, hanging above their heads were test printed sleeves for the second pressing of our debut LP that had been passed over in favour of the prism version we eventually used. These unique items have been retained by the shop and will be sold (with the vinyl) on a first come, first served basis to those who visit over the next month before the remainder go online to those who can’t make it down to the South coast.
Here’s a little snippet of our performance put together by the shop’s own Tim Scullion as a very early taster for our second album as we will be using some of the recordings made in the shop on the next release. Thanks to everyone who came down, Colin from Castles In Space and especially Tim and Susan from Wow And Flutter for having us. This is their 10th year in business and they are planning nine more in-store events over the year so give them a follow or better yet, a visit!
We also play at the Deliaphonic all-dayer in Coventry on May 2nd at the newly re-christened Delia Derbyshire Building University alongside… well, just look at that line up! Entry is FREE via the sign up here. I will also be playing a solo Quadraphon set with PuttyRubber on the visuals to close the event. By coincidence, Delia and I share the same birthday just a few days later.
The first (that I’ve ever heard of) exhibition of zoetrope art – TURN ON – ended recently at the Place des Rotondes in Luxembourg and they have made this short film of the event, directed by Raoul Schmitz. Sculpture played at the opening and my 2013 zoetrope of Bonobo‘s ‘Cirrus’ using animations by Cyriak was featured alongside discs by Reuben Sutherland, Drew Tetz, Tess Martin, Iloobia and more.
A note to cultural spaces – the exhibition is now available for hire and can’t wait to go on tour! A presentation kit is being finalised for interested art and cultural centres. Email Marine Deravet at Rotondes if you are interested in hosting the event in your city or town. Photos below by Lynn Theisen (first 3) and Mike Zenari.
I recently took delivery of this incredible book, ‘A Decade of Handmade Music Packaging’ by the label Time Released Sound.
The label specialises in handmade limited edition packaging for each release, mainly CD but also lathe cut vinyl.
They’ve made over 100 releases in 10 years which is quite something when you see the work that goes into every one.
The level of detail is staggering as each release is collaged together from found ephemera and assembled by hand. I’m going to have to post more spreads because 10 images just doesn’t do it justice.
For fans of music packaging, there’s never been a book as good as this since the Independent Project Records‘ ‘Savage Impressions’ collection.
Time Released Sound have copies available to buy now, each comes with 2 CDs of music from the label on the inside cover, give them a follow and check out all the wonderful art they make.