Banging in with Doubleclick’s entry to the Solid Steel intro competition – we had so many entries – he went on to work with Amon Tobin later on in the early incarnation of Two Fingers. San Diego’s DJ Riko’s P Funked-Up remix of LCD Soundsystem’s ‘Daft Punk Is…’ is a brilliant execution of the idea with extra female vocals to push the point home. Riko was a late-comer to the mash up craze but definitely did some memorable entries, probably best known for his ‘Whistler’s Delight’ release. Phil N’ Dog’s ‘Phat Pants’, best known for their huge ‘Doctor Pressure’ mash up, they follow it up by taking Leftfield’s ‘Phat Planet’ and Orbital’s ‘Acid Pants’ where Sparks’ Russel Mael intones “when the love track starts then the fun starts” over and over. It’s a banger but I don’t know if it came out, Phil – who today still drives his replica American police car, painted to resemble the KLF’s Ford Timelord – probably gave me a CDr with this on it. *Phil remembers: “I think I gave you the CD at Cargo if I remember correctly. No it never really came out as such. Eddy used to play it on XFM and Annie Mac on Radio 1, both from CDR’s I gave them but no vinyl pressings or anything more official were made.” Freddy Fresh comes with the first of three tracks from his Accidentally Classic album, did you know Freddy has made 26 albums over a 32 years career so far?

Another LCD mash-up pits their ‘Disco Infiltrator’ against the Star Wars Cantina Band – I’d forgotten this one, should have dug it out when I did the SW Secret Cinema. DJ Godzilla was responsible but I can’t find any release so this was probably an online download during those Wild West years of file-sharing. More Freddy Fresh with the B12-ish electro of ‘Random’ and then something that rung no bells until I googled it – Mikrosopht ‘Here Today’. Originating from a British online mash-up compilation ‘Hippocamp Ruins Pet Sounds’ which appeared at Hippocamp.net, this ambient patchwork of Beach Boys vocals and voices floats through the ether as an extraordinary example of this kind of audio collage. A similar approach was taken years later by Atticus Ross on the soundtrack for the Brian Wilson biopic, Love & Mercy. It’s the perfect bed for the extremely long build for the next track which takes up the middle section of the mix.

Autechre’s remix of Seefeel’s ‘Spangle’ from the mid 90’s was a classic in my mind the minute I heard it, despite not being released at the time for reasons unknown. I’d tried to get it on our Blech mix in some shape or form but Warp wouldn’t let us have it so I was pleased when Mark Clifford later independently released all 12.15 mins of it on his Polyfusia Records. It’s the ultimate slow burn builder from Sean and Rob and Warp later digitally released it in 2021. The next track by Hood definitely had me scratching my head – no recollection at all – but apparently they were a UK-based post rock band from Leeds, signed to Domino for the first half of the 00’s before going on hiatus. ‘Over The Land Over The Sea’ appeared on one of their last singles and pre-empts the final Freddy Fresh track of the set, the sparse electro of ‘I Go Around the World’. I don’t remember him being this electronic but he’s been all over the map in his career so it should come as no surprise. The final track comes from Bola’s fourth LP, ‘Gnayse’ (Bola-Gnayse – geddit?), the sublimely laid back sounds of Darrell Fitton on Skam overlaid with a bit of Blade Runner dialogue.

Track list:
Doubleclick – Solid Steel intro
DJ Riko – P Funk is Playing In My House
Phil ‘n’ Dog – Phat Pants
Freddy Fresh – Do You Hear It?
DJ Godzilla – Cantina Inflitrator
Freddy Fresh – Random
Mikrosopht – Here Today
Seefeel – Spangle (Autechre remix)
Hood – Over The Land Over The Sea
Freddy Fresh – I Go Around The World
Bola – Effanajor