Another ridiculously inventive video from iloobia – can’t say I’m that into the track but wow, that’s some work on the video, the mind boggles at how he achieves all this
The T-shirt I designed for De:tuned records’ 15th anniversary is still available, inc. free download of the Future Sound of London’s ‘Pulse Five’ EP (which I designed too) – only 6 left!
There is also now a CD version of the EP available separately from FSOLdigital with extra tracks!
Out today for an extremely good cause and only available until March 1st – an album of exclusive electronic music in aid of Iklectik keeping going and finding a new venue to operate from. Put together by Castles In Space from a suggestion by Robin The Fog – the current crowdfunder has passed the £40k barrier and hopefully this will help.
Tune in tonight to hear what the 45 Live crew do when they’re given 7 minutes to shine for show #200. 8pm PST or 4am GMT on Dublab to hear host Greg Belson who has diligently hosted and put together 200 shows now.
Last week I made a playlist of some of my favourite / infuential records for the Balearic Burger group on Facebook – check it out, these are key tracks that genuinely changed the way I heard music or were gateways to new directions for me – thanks to John C Bawcombe for asking me, you’ll find many others have done playlists and the group is full of musical knowledge.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRzOvYwyrfTxGWHRSM7BfovBZWn9uke64
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)
The second edition of Brian Eno‘s turntable is showing at the Paul Stolper Gallery in London this month. Prices last time were eye-watering and actually went up as the edition sold out giving an incentive for early buyers.
Gary Hustwit‘s Eno film premiered at the Sundance Festival in January to rave reviews, it compiles a different film with each showing from 168 hours of footage. You can buy these limited prints or Sundance Poster, designed by Build, from Hustwit’s site
And if that wasn’t enough Eno for you, there have been more tracks added to his radio station, The Lighthouse, on Sonos. At the end of 2023 there were 424 but 447 and 448 cropped up today, The Lighthouse is a continuous stream of largely unreleased tracks from Brian’s archive that play randomly 24 hours a day – am investigating…
UPDATE: There are at least 25 new tracks from 2023 and 2022 added as of Feb 2024 bringing the total of tracks up to 449.
Around the start of each month I publish a selection of roughly 10 releases that I’ve discovered or which are on pre-order via Bandcamp on the Buy Music Club website. Here you can easily create clickable lists that preview a track from each release and can then take you through to buy via Bandcamp. Think of it as my monthly DJ chart, each monthly entry can be viewed here.
Or you can even embed them
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)
An incredibly important release – the first solo album proper from Patrick Carpenter aka PC aka DJ Food, former Cinematic Orchestra member and long-time collaborator with Coldcut both in the studio and on their Solid Steel radio show. This album has been gestating for over 15 years and almost been released on a couple of different labels. For various reasons it hasn’t happened and yesterday, on his birthday, Patrick put it up on Bandcamp for all to hear. It’s a gorgeous mix of jazz, electronica and orchestral bliss that could soundtrack a thousand different moods. I’m so pleased to see this record get released and hope people get to hear it as I’ve been lucky enough to over the last few years. Don’t leave it another 15 years please mate.
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
An exhibition of phenakistoscopes and zoetropes revolving around music and audio has just opened at the Rotundes venue in Luxembourg. I was thrilled to see my design and viewer for Bonobo‘s ‘Cirrus’ on Ninja Tune way back in 2013 using animations by Cyriak from his video for the song.
Turn On is open from Saturday 20.01 to Sunday 11.02 as part of the festival Fabula Rasa.
All photos and film by Reuben Sutherland/Sculpture who played there on Saturday after their triumphant turn at The Light Surgeons‘ takeover at Iklectik last Thursday. The exhibition is on until February 11th and there’s an exclusive slipmat available as part of it, designed by Etienne Duval.
Opening hours:
Thu + Fri >15:00 – 18:00
Sat + Sun >11:00 – 18:00
Closed from Monday to Wednesday
More info: www.rotondes.lu
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
20 years ago today I premiered the first version of my Raiding The 20th Century guest mix on XFM‘s The Remix radio show. Originally commissioned by James Hyman as a 30 minute set for the evening show he and Eddie Temple-Morris chaired together, what emerged was a 39 minute mini history of the cut up. James had left the show by this time but I visited the studio and sat in live with Eddie as the show unfolded, chatting a little at the end about the mix and why I’d felt the need to undertake such an epic excercise. At the time the mix took down the home of online mash ups, the Boom Selection server for a bit when it was uploaded and I made a run of 100 copies of a CD version that I largely sold at our Solid Steel nights or through the Ninja Tune forum.
Fast forward about 18 years and I’m contacted by Yoshi from Delic Records in Japan who wanted to make a physical tape version of the mix as he thought it was an important work and wanted to have a physical item to save it from being just another digital file floating in the ether. At the time I was sceptical and not too interested – afterall, the mix is out there if you look, as is its bigger brother the Paul Morley-narrated Words & Music Expansion that clocks in at 59 minutes. Yoshi was persistant and, as the 20th anniversary approached, I could see his point and wanted to do something commemorate it.
So here we have a cassette version of the first edition of the mix, spread over both sides (I did the edit) and with rejigged artwork from the original CD release. Also available is a double-sided T-shirt or you can get both as a bundle. These are only being sold by Delic Records in Japan, I have none here aside from my own personal copies. I’m sure there will also be a companion release for the expanded mix this time next year…
A new remix performed on the Quadraphon turntable using a 7″ locked groove record by Slim Vic (given to me years ago by Graham Dunning who has grooves on the other side) features on this release.
Out now on the Because We Love Music 24 compilation from Lamour Records out of Sweden.
Spotify / Bandcamp / Tidal
I discovered the Portugese Prisma Sonora label randomly on Bandcamp late last year and was struck by their great cassette artwork. Upon diving in I found a label full of hauntologial synths, tape montage and found sounds very much in the Ghost Box tradition (or the older GB maybe). Anyway, I thought I’d share these lovely graphics and maybe you’ll like the sounds too, they even have a release with songs made for typefaces.
This show aired just over 20 years ago and was the product of a tour to Australia and New Zealand the previous year, showcasing a lot of the music I’d been given or bought from groups largely indigenous to those shores. Opening with the Bamboo Shack version of the Limp Twins’ ‘Another Day In The Life of Mr. Jones’ on Tru Thoughts – a long time record box staple – played by The Bamboos, a remix/rework that no doubt saw to them releasing many records on the label. Whilst in Auckland, New Zealand, I hooked up with Stinky Jim aka UK ex-pat Jim Pinckney of Unitone HiFi, owner of the Round Trip Mars label who furnished me with much of the music in this mix. SJD was one of his artist and ‘The Lowdown Pt.2’ is one of a couple of tracks in the mix – following is the Daly Wilson Big Band, an ensemble of up to 18 musicians who played popular jazz and cover versions. Their version of the Theme from the Rockford Files is overlaid with a load of dialogue from the show courtesy of Megatrip’s Soundbank library that we took so liberally from in the 00s.
After the first of several intros from several mix CDs Jim gave me is another Australian funk combo, Cookin’ On 3 Burners with their debut release on the Bamboo Shack label – remember the funk 45 ‘craze’ was in full swing around this time after Shadow and Cut Chemist’s ‘Brainfreeze’ mix had opened the doors and all sorts of bands were creeping out the woodwork with credibly retro-sounding songs or covers in a 60s/70s style. Mood Unit’s ‘Games?’ reminds me of Tipsy’s first album, a psychedelic lounge style not far from trip hop and came from the sole12” released on the Froth Recordings label from New Zealand. I seem to remember it was around 9 minutes long so I’ve edited it a bit for this mix – the Unit’s only other release was on a Round Trip Mars compilation.
While I was in New Zealand I visited a promoter’s house who had Dave Tipper staying as he was on some sort of tour, I’ll never forget him making beats on his laptop on the sofa and then going into the next room and performing some incredibly tight scratch cuts, I had no idea he was such a good turntablist at the time. I think he gave me a Cdr of music he was either working on or had coming out as I don’t know the title of the next track which he produced. I got him to do a guest mix for the show when I was back in the UK and you can hear some of his scratching skills during the next ‘Cut The Jibber’ section which was inserted into my set. All the scratching spoken word inserts were put on by me later – sorry Dave! I think you’ll agree, the guy has skills. After running through Mark Pritchard, DJ Vadim, Mr. Oizo and Prefuse 73 instrumentals then it’s back to me for a couple of songs, the Mudie Allstars ’10 Steps To Soul’ being from a mix Jim gave me of Harry Mudie productions.
Downsyde are a rap group from Perth and ‘Did Not You know’ is from their Land of The Giants album before we’re plunged back into the second part of the Tipper cut-fest over a Mark B instrumental. The second track from SJD – ‘Guiding Light’ – is in stark contrast to the first, a big band jazz number with vocals and it seems that Sean James Donnelly is still putting out music to this day, I’m not surprised if he could come up with this on only his second album. More Mudie next, an unlikely reggae cover of Idris Muhammad’s classic, ‘Loren’s Dance’ before we drift into the last 11 minutes of Fat Freddy’s Drop’s ‘Bluey’ from their debut 10” single in 2003. At this point the band were well known in New Zealand and it didn’t take them long to make it out onto the international circuit where they’re now festival regulars.
Track list:
The Bamboos – Another Day In The Life of Mr Jones (Bamboo Shack version)
SJD – The Lowdown Pt 2
Daly Wilson Big Band – Theme from the Rockford Files
Stinky Jim – Intro 11
Cookin’ On 3 Burners – Gravel Rash
Mood Unit – Games? (edit)
Stinky Jim – intro 14
Tipper – unknown
Tipper guest mix insert: Cut The Jibber pt 1 intro
Mark Pritchard – unknown
Tipper – Tip Hop
DJ Vadim – Friction (Instrumental)
Mr Oizo – Electro Shit Non Stop
Prefuse 73 – Eve Of Destruction
Mudie All Stars – Ten Steps To Soul
Downsyde – Did Not You Know
Tipper guest mix insert: Cut The Jibber pt 2
Si Begg – Noodles 2
Mark B & Blade – Ya Don’t See The Signs (instrumental)
Stinky Jim – intro 1
SJD – Guiding Light
Stinky Jim – intro 3
Mudie All Stars – Loren’s Dance
Fat Freddy’s Drop – Bluey
Next gig – we’re reprising our Candlemas performance of last year on January 28th with a variety of liquid lights and slides plus music and food at the Royal Foundation of St. Katherine in east London. Curated by Heena Song, she’ll be joined by Julian Hand, Paul Naudin, Joe and Janie of Whyte Light Visuals and myself for an evening of psychedelic projection in and outside around the grounds of the Foundation. Nearest train station is Limehouse and then it’s just round the corner, you should be able to see the lights from the train. Tickets are available here or on the gate and the event runs from 6pm to 9pm.
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